Gundam Seed: Dreams of Fire
by Sudentor
Summary: [Imcomplete] An uneasy peace follows an unofficial end to the war between the Earth Alliance and ZAFT after the Battle of YakinDuue. But a strange twist of geopolitical events may tip the balance of peace. The first: The disappearance of Athrun Zala.
1. Prologue

**Gundam Seed: Dreams of Fire  
By Ysionris Gavotte  
**

**Prologue**

Although it was no surprise that high ranking officers had their own offices in the Haven, essentially the military administrative facility of the Zodiac Alliance of Freedom Treaty in PLANT, it was most unusual that a first lieutenant would have a luxury office, one that overlooked the space dock of Marius Four. While such accommodation would most likely spur rumors of blackmail and bribes, rumors that were ridiculously exaggerated and farfetched, First Lieutenant Aiden Renguard did not really care.

Dressed in the red and black uniform of a ZAFT First Lieutenant, Aiden Renguard probably had the credentials of a captain. With a rich crop of black hair slicked backwards, he looked older than he really was, nineteen. It wasn't just the hairstyle; his green eyes were sharp and carried a great aura of maturity and seriousness. The message was clear; Aiden did not doodle with bullshit.

Aiden rested his eyes as he took a moment to look away from his computer, staring out the window. Outside, the ZAFT engineering crews were busily floating over the Nazca-class battleship Phalanx. One of the ships that had been heavily damaged during the Battle of Yakin-Duue, the Phalanx managed to hold steady, even after its engines were nearly a complete wreck, its hull integrity was compromised by ninety-two percent, a good two-thirds of the crew had died, and its reactor had been heavily damaged due to meltdown.

While the entire ship would've been better off being scrapped completely, ZAFT was running out of Nazca-class battleships, which meant that less mobile suits were being ferried throughout PLANT territory. Mobile suits always needed some sort of carrier to return to, and although it would cost less to simply build a new ship to replace the Phalanx, it was the matter of time; time was of the essence, not money, and ZAFT wanted as many battleships in service as possible.

A knock on the door of the office attracted Aiden's attention. Turning around from the window, he waved his hand over a sensor; the office door opened. Standing at the door was another first lieutenant dressed in the usual red and black. His blonds hair was combed into neat bangs, and he carried himself with a sense of arrogance, his blue eyes showing signs of amusement. He stepped into the office as the door closed behind him.

The newcomer looked around the office, studied it, and sighed. "You are really awful at utilizing space, Aiden," the newcomer muttered. Aiden smiled lightly, knowing perfectly what First Lieutenant Derlude Helsrang meant. Aiden's office may be large, but it was rather bare. Two bookshelves, a desk, and a bed. That was all. Other than there being books on the shelves, there was nothing, no awards or pictures. Other than paperwork, pens, and his computer, his desk was devoid of personal trinkets as well. It was among the things that Derlude Helsrang complained about Aiden.

"I never liked to make a mess," Aiden admitted as he turned around to face Derlude. Derlude looked around, found the room devoid of any other chairs. He scowled.

"You're trying to make me stand, aren't you?" Derlude mocked Aiden playfully.

Aiden laughed. "Remind me to get another chair from inventory," Aiden smirked, and waved toward his bed, motioning Derlude to sit, "For now, let's talk business."

Derlude's face composed itself as he sat on Aiden's bedsheets. "Right," Derlude nodded, "Let's get down to work. You've contacted the Ace-Ops already?"

"Basically, all our pilots on ZAFT have already been given the general briefing. I think the message for the Orb pilots also went through, but I'm not too sure for the pilots of the Earth Alliance. I'll have Julius try to contact them again when he gets to Orb."

"I assume Senator Leland has been informed of the update? And Julius has already left with him, right?"

Aiden picked up a ball-point pen from his desk and started to twirl it in between his fingers. "Senator Leland has already left for Orb along with Julius. His last report has told me he has already made contact with his Orb colleagues there, and will be making contact with Cagalli Yula Attha soon."

"Don't you think it's a bit early to contact the Attha?" Derlude seemed doubtful as he crossed his arms, "Especially when we haven't..."

"I've went over that with Hitomi already. She's helping me loosen security at this point; Crawford will get the son of Zala, that I don't doubt. Timing should be instant."

"But you have to realize about the validity of our timeline, and of the information that is leaked out," Derlude protested, "Should Attha find a hole in the information we're about to give her..."

"She won't," Aiden shook his head, "Even if she does, she won't get anything out of it."

"You have to realize that she will probably suspect something," Derlude pressed his lips together, clearly in doubt, "One year down the line does seem rather late for Orb to suddenly ask her to take the reins of leadership."

"It was the best plan suggested at the Defense Committee Hearing,"Aiden shrugged, "You were there. We can hit three birds with one rock. It's the only plan that's consistent in terms of execution, time, and our current financial resources."

"It's the best plan because you suggested it," Derlude muttered, scratching his nose. Aiden couldn't help but smile; Derlude didn't mean any ill, but his skepticism and his general reluctance _w_as amusing.

"Perhaps," Aiden shrugged, "I guess the other analysts aren't exactly equipped for plotting."

"You should've been a suspense author, Aiden," Derlude uncrossed his arms, felt uncomfortable, then crossed them again.

"Perhaps," Aiden repeated, and turned back to his computer, "But either way, the plan's already being executed. Crawford will have Zala within the hour. And we should be leaving for the _Kalima_. We can't be caught looking like we don't have anything better to do, right?"

Derlude chuckled, his skepticism instantly replaced by his thirst for action, "Looks like this will get very, very messy soon."

* * *

It was an understatement to say that Cagalli Yula Attha was not pleased with the arrival of a Orb transport chopper moving toward the island. At first, she thought it was some sort of threat, but as it moved closer, she saw that it had the national colors of Orb, and a symbol of a shield, indicating that the chopper was here for escort and transportation, not for an assault. But whatever Orb was up to, Cagalli wasn't exactly pleased.

With blond hair and hazel eyes, Cagalli was much like her former self during the war that had been waged a year ago. She still was a tomboy (a nickname gleefully taken up by her closer friends around Orb, one that annoyed her to no end), she was still brash, she was still naïve, and she still hated dresses. All in all, that was not much of a difference from the shadow of Cagalli Yula Attha.

It had been a year after the Battle of Yakin-Duue, C.E. 72. There was a sense of peace in terms of appearance; the peace talks held at PLANT seemed to have made a difference. However, the war between Naturals and Coordinators still went wrong. While Earth and ZAFT had officially signed a ceasefire, the war wasn't quite over.

"The Earth Alliance is quite ticked off about what happened at the Moon Base, and especially about Genesis. Naturally, PLANT wasn't pleased about what happened at JOSH-A Base at Alaska, and is even less pleased of how the OMNI Enforcers tried to destroy PLANT entirely with nuclear weapons. There's also the economic problems to consider, which hasn't been averted even after the Atlantic Federation has begun to utilize the Neutron-Jammer Cancelers. There's the Blue Cosmos to worry about, as well as the Zala Faction. Briefly said, neither the weapons or the nucleus of the war has been dismantled to a satisfactory extent."

That was Cagalli's explanation when one of Markio's orphans asked Cagalli if the war was over or not. Quite naturally, not one of them understood.

But these concerns were not as paramount to her thoughts of her mother nation, Orb. After Orb was nearly destroyed by the Atlantic Federation, they had begun rebuilding the nation after the Battle of Yakin-Duue. ZAFT had been generous in its donations to the relief project, but it was quite obvious that ZAFT's motive was to have Orb in its pocket. ZAFT might not have completely succeeded at that, but Cagalli was quite annoyed to learn that the lack of leadership within Orb, in addition to the already dwindling treasury, had brought in two results. Orb's leadership is nearly always siding with ZAFT, and Orb's leadership has essentially become more of an hierarchy caste system.

None of which Orb admits, of course.

But it really wasn't supposed to bother Cagalli, she being on one of the satellite island of Orb with Markio and his many orphans. After the war, she had wanted to steer clear of politics; besides, with the new leadership in Orb, the name Attha probably wasn't going to be a welcome utterance anytime soon. Her twin brother, Kira Yamato, who had decided to finish his course at Orb when he realized his university academics had been cut short by the incident at Heliopolis which consequently dragged him into the war, had sent letters asking of Cagalli wanted to join him at Orb, but his letters usually came with an undertone that told Cagalli things wouldn't be as pleasant as she'd expect. Besides, Cagalli was quite satisfied here, where she lived with the blind Markio and his family of orphans.

Which was one of the reasons why Cagalli met the Orb helicopter with a scowl as it landed on one of the plains on the island. But she reminded herself that there may be no specific reason why a helicopter would be landing here. Hell, they might not be looking for her specifically. Why was she so worried?

But she suddenly realized that the helicopter did came for her, for one simple reason. Out of the transport helicopter piled out two Orb guards, corporals, and an Orb senator, who Cagalli immediately recognized as Senator Joseph Strauss. Cagalli didn't know her personally; she had not been in service of Orb before Yakin-Duue. However, she had seen him on television many times, and she thought he was a calm, reasonable man. It was unexpected, but not really a surprise to see him here. But what really surprised her was the last two men to jump off the chopper.

The next man to jump off was dressed completely in a tuxedo. He had to be just a year older than Cagalli, just by looking at his features. Although his eyes were hidden by a pair of tinted shades, he had relatively long dirty blond hair that flowed in the wind. Cagalli didn't realize it immediately, but she suddenly noticed some specifics on the tuxedo, and her academics recalled he was definitely of ZAFT's secret service. As a child, Cagalli was required to memorize every aspect of military dress code of every nation, but what her teacher didn't realize was that Cagalli had already memorized every detail through her outside sources, sources she had gained in her interest of the military. Of course, it was something she never told her teacher; it was much easier to pass if one acted like she didn't know a thing.

Cagalli was just wondering what a ZAFT special agent was doing here when the fifth man came out, in the form of a ZAFT senator.

For these reasons, Cagalli was certain that they had come for her.

Senator Strauss walked up to Cagalli, followed by the two corporals and the two ZAFT members. Strauss looked Cagalli up and down for a moment, studying her. Strauss seemed young, and Cagalli suspected him to be the youngest member of Orb's ruling party.

"Cagalli Yula Attha?" Strauss asked in an even voice, "Are you Cagalli Yula Attha?"

Cagalli felt compelled to say no, but reason prevailed. "Yeah," Cagalli nodded. She closed her mouth there; she couldn't think of anything else polite to say.

"I am Senator Joseph Strauss," Strauss introduced himself, "Behind me are Senator Francis Leland and his aide, Julius Vibrassa."

Cagalli stared at the five of them, or more importantly, the three that seemed to make more of a difference here, Joseph Strauss, Francis Leland, and Julius Vibrassa. She pressed her lips together, and finally said, "It's not everyday that I get politicians visiting here. So what do you want?"

Strauss looked around. "It would be better if we were to talk somewhere inside. Do you mind?"

Cagalli knew he was talking about Markio's cabin on the beach. Cagalli found no reason to push them away, but there was a feeling that she felt, something about them that she couldn't quite trust. But she didn't know anything now, which was the reason she was compelled to say, "Okay."

It was, after all, all she could say.

* * *

"So tell me," Cagalli said, looking at the three men on the other side of the table. The two corporals had been situated outside the house, keeping guard detail; Strauss and Leland were seated in front of Cagalli, while Julius stood beside them. Apparently, Leland and Markio were old acquaintances, and Leland had no trouble asking Markio to "lend the place for the time being". Cagalli wished that Markio didn't have such friends in high places; although they were useful, it was also likely that the favor could be turned the other way around.

"I will have to ask that all information presented to you here remain within this room," Strauss started as he leaned forward on the sofa and folded his hands together, "It's not public information yet, but just twelve hours ago, Representative Roland Davenport died of heart failure. It was sudden; the doctors never saw it coming. Clinical data suspect the causes to be natural."

Cagalli tried to hide her surprise. So Davenport was dead. For some reason, Cagalli wanted to smirk; she had never liked the man who had wrested Orb from the policies that her father, and the Representatives before him, had set down. While his rule was full of scandals and conspiracies, his rule never collapsed on him, which was a miracle unto itself.

"Is that all you came to tell me?" Cagalli asked, knowing full well that whatever they were saying was just the beginning.

"Roland hasn't declared any legitimate heirs, which means that Orb is currently at a lack of leadership," Strauss continued, "News of his death is being scheduled to be released to the media in twelve hours. We're hoping to have someone take his place before his death becomes public knowledge. It's the best way to have a less turbulent maneuver. For the last twelve hours, we have been choosing among candidates to replace the late Representative Davenport. We've selected you."

So it was a day full of surprises. Cagalli didn't quite successfully hide her surprise this time; true, she did feel that Orb would be better in her control, but she would've thought that her name was an unwelcome utterance under the Davenport rule. Now that the opportunity to become the Representative of Orb seemed farfetched, even in her wildest fantasies. Cagalli squinted her eyes.

"Let's keep it simple," Cagalli said in an even tone, "What do you want from me?"

Strauss' expression didn't betray any emotion. "Nothing," he said simply, "We just need someone to be the new Representative of Orb."

"Yeah," Cagalli muttered, obviously not believing what Strauss was telling her, "Then tell me what a ZAFT senator is doing here."

Leland cleared his throat, seemingly expecting this question for a while. "PLANT wishes to extend its interest in the matter," Leland said, "In a sense, we are hoping that Miss Cagalli Yula Attha take the reins of leadership of Orb, in hopes of bring Orb to its former glory."

Cagalli didn't like the way this ZAFT senator spoke at all; while his voice was full of graciousness, his words were slippery, almost as if he had another plan in mind, and was daring her to expose it.

"And what if I don't?" Cagalli asked testily, keeping her voice steady.

"We will have to contact the next candidate," Strauss said rather simply after a moment's hesitation, "It will take more time to locate him, however, and by that time, the leadership crisis of Orb will probably already take its toll. The next candidate is not as easily located, or as qualified, as you."

Cagalli stared at Strauss' eyes, cursed in her mind. She had done her best to do what she called "half-aggravating speech", which was right on the border of politeness and outright rudeness. It could be taken either way, and had Strauss taken the bait and become furious, Cagalli was, in a sense, innocent, because she could back her claim in saying she did not intend to aggravate Strauss, merely asked for the results of what would happen if she didn't take the seat of Representative. However, Strauss had answered her question perfectly without fuss; this Orb senator was much more than he seemed.

"We sincerely hope that Miss Attha will accept the title of Representative," Leland added, breaking Cagalli's thoughts, "The rise of the Attha back to power will serve as a great joy to the people of Orb. The late Representative Uzumi Nalah Attha was admired by all as a reasonable and headstrong ruler of Orb; I'm sure his daughter, carrying the name of Attha, will rule as wisely as he had."

Cagalli's gaze to did waver from Strauss, but kept her attention on Leland. It seemed the ZAFT senator had a habit of talking about people in third-person. Inside, her mind tightened, however; although Cagalli now had a hunch that her late father, Uzumi Nalah Attha, was not her birth father, there was still an imprint he had left on Cagalli, something that she couldn't throw away. The mere mention of her father brought back unwanted memories of her "father" perishing in the Morgenraete explosion when Uzumi forcibly self-destructed the island as a final act of defiance against the Atlantic Federation.

"You're probably thinking why it took so long for us to insert you as the Representative of Orb," Strauss said, "You're probably thinking we're just using you. We know that you probably don't have good thoughts about the present state of Orb. But consider; how do we use you? If we are to use you, how can we? If that was the case, it would've been better off that we leave you alone on this island. If we are using you, I guess you can say we've considered your presence as Representative would reduce the number of strikes against the more radical changes of Orb. But the end result is the same. We're not using you for any heavy purpose. You can't think of any possible reason why we would insert you as Representative and use you at the same time, can you?"

Cagalli looked down on the floor, for a moment, considered. But her reply had already been known before it was voiced.

"If you were to use me," Cagalli stated flatly, "I wouldn't know for what reasons."

Strauss stared at Cagalli, contemplated, then nodded in agreement. "You wouldn't," he agreed.

Cagalli gritted her teeth in frustration, leaned back against the chair she had been sitting on. Her gaze settled on Strauss, then Leland, then to the silent Julius who hadn't strung up a word in the conversation.

"Give me some time to consider," Cagalli sighed finally, rubbing her eyes with her knuckles.

"We didn't expect you to make a decision so quickly either," Strauss concurred, "However, if you are to make a decision, it would be best that you make it within the next ten hours."

"Before the population finds out, and with enough time for me to get orientated, I know," Cagalli nodded, her eyes closed. And inside, her mind struggled. There were endless reasons why she should return to leadership. Bringing Orb back to the way it was, returning to her responsibility as an Attha, to bring happiness to the people of Orb. But deep inside, she knew that they wouldn't have come without a reason, the Orb Senator Strauss, the ZAFT Senator Leland. Something had to be up, but she couldn't put a finger on it.

What was it that they needed her for?

* * *

Athrun Zala grimaced as the clock ticked on to five minutes past five, which was, in the manner of Niel Schneider, way too past the appointed time. Niel practically lived his life on the clock, and his appearance was usually only off by the seconds; his inability to show up at five disturbed Athrun. Of course, it was possible that Niel might've forgotten something along the way and turned back to retrieve it, or he had been caught in traffic. No, that wasn't the case; Niel had a fantastic memory, and he was always wary of traffic, departed early. Even if there was a contradiction this time, he could've easily contacted Athrun on his cell phone. Athrun had tried contacting Niel on his cell, but it appeared Niel had it off. Athrun had left a message, though.

A tall, lanky, blue-haired, green-eyed Coordinator, Athrun had doubts when asked to return to ZAFT. Not only was he the son of Patrick Zala, the man who had fired the superweapon Genesis against the Earth Lunar Base at the Putilitatis Crater, the one who had declared that only Coordinators were true humans. He was almost sure that the name Zala would be tainted for years to come. Not only that, but he had been part of the Clyne Faction in the last fraction of the war one year ago, essentially, a traitor in the eyes of ZAFT.

It was Lacus Clyne who had saved him, and many other Coordinators who had sided with her during the war. Her brave, although somewhat brash, charge into the ZAFT Supreme Council was supported by many Coordinators who were willing to put down their arms, including the recently elected Chairwoman Eileen Canaver. Quite ironically, it was outright innocence that got her into trouble, and still outright innocence that got her out of it.

But Athrun still had doubts; even if his identity as the pilot of the second nuclear-powered mobile suit Justice, the pilot that had saved PLANT by shooting down the nuclear missiles directed at the stations, was acceptable, the name Zala certainly wasn't. Despite Lacus' most convincing arguments, Athrun decided to switch his alias to Alex Reno. A few select insiders knew his true identity, insiders that included Kira Yamato, Lacus Clyne, Cagalli Yula Attha, Niel Schneider, and several other ZAFT insiders that were close to him. And even with him being Alex Reno, he still somewhat unsafe.

Which explained his relative unease of Niel unable to arrive on time at the Hybrid Shopping Mall, where Niel had made his appointment. Niel had called him, asking him to meet him at the Hybrid Shopping Mall at five, no explanation, just saying he was in a hurry. Normally, Athrun would've felt suspicious, which he had, but he thought reasonably. Niel was a first lieutenant of Hitomi Varyvae's Peace Project, a ZAFT-funded organization that acted as an independent branch of ZAFT's National Defense Committee to ensure the peace, or ceasefire, between ZAFT and the Earth Alliance. There were thousands of things that could've tied Niel's schedule down in his position.

Athrun sighed as he looked around him. No sign of Niel. Standing on the second floor balcony in front of the food plaza, Athrun leaned on the railing, looking up at the third floor balcony, which would serve as an extension of the food plaza when construction of that balcony was finished. Athrun, becoming worried, reached into his pocket for his cell phone once more. While his behavior could be classified as outright paranoid, Athrun had been a soldier for a long time; his instincts were usually accurate, and it was tingling like mad.

Athrun had just pulled his cell phone from his pocket when something suddenly stabbed him in the back, Athrun didn't know what. A needle, a blade, what? Athrun groped backwards, tried to cry out, but something had already sealed his throat. And Athrun realized suddenly that a depressant, most likely a tranquilizer, had been injected into his body. He struggled with the chemical, trying his best to keep his mind sharp, trying to figure out everything before consciousness failed him. But fighting against such a tranquilizer was useless, as Athrun went limp, his vision blurred, his thoughts foggy, and his last thoughts were suddenly realizing that he was being grabbed by the arms, and that the world behind him exploded, turning into an orange cloud of fire.

Then, the depressant took him, and his world was black.


	2. Chapter One

Chapter One

From different and all degrees, Niel Schneider was one of the sharpest first lieutenants of ZAFT, which obviously explained his complete unease when he closed his office door, activated his cell phone, and found one unanswered call from Athrun on his answering module.

"Niel, this is Athrun. I'm at the Hybrid Shopping Mall now; it's not like you to be late. Ah, well, I was just calling you to see what was tying you down. Hope you get here soon. See you later."

That was Athrun twenty minutes ago, five minutes past five.

Hybrid Shopping Mall.

Niel Schneider, third-generation Coordinator, was happy to announce he was one hundred percent German, thank you. Of course, that was a complete exaggeration; his knowledge of the German vocabulary was close to nothing, and he didn't really care about ethnicity. But he enjoyed saying that sometimes, thinking it was a catch phrase of some sort. Of course, his frequency of saying such a thing was close to zilch; Niel did not always have the social capacity to recognize when to use such a catch phrase. With medium length blond hair cropped completely backwards, his blue eyes were sharp, squinting, almost as if he had focused on something others could not see. And it may very well be so.

Facts clicked into place instantly. Athrun had been waiting at the Hybrid Shopping Mall. He had, apparently, been there because Niel had asked him to meet him there. Which was, of course, complete nonsense, because Niel had his entire schedule tied down, with no time, or need, to meet Athrun, no matter how much he would like to see his old friend.

Which meant, something was wrong.

Speculation could, however, continue while he was concentrating on something else. It was quite possible for him to continue down his way out of the Haven while moving to his dinner appointment with First Lieutenant Aiden Renguard. Well, appointment wasn't quite the right word; briefing was more like it. Aiden was going to review several things over with him as an Ace-Ops pilot, and Aiden hated standing on ceremony, so he decided to call all the pilots over for dinner, bill on him. And so his mind ran along at full while he moved towards the parking lot, jamming numbers on his cell phone as he tried to phone Athrun.

The phone was picked up after three rings. "Who's this?" a gruff voice came from the other side of the phone, obviously not Athrun.

"May I speak with At...," Niel stopped, caught himself, corrected, "...Alex Reno, please?" Niel asked, also keeping his mind active, walking, talking, and thinking what the hell was going on.

"Who's this?" the voice repeated again, obviously agitated. Niel grimaced.

"This is First Lieutenant Niel Schneider," Niel snapped with full authority in his tone, "I ask to be able to speak with Alex Reno."

There was a pause on the other end, then the voice returned, noticeably politer than his earlier tone, and a bit uneasy. "I apologize, First Lieutenant," the voice replied, "I am Officer Tony Briggs, Feburarius Three Police Force. We're a bit busy at the moment, and..."

"It's fine," Niel said, his tone somewhat embarrassed, "I'm sorry, I think I have the wrong number..."

"I don't think so," Briggs suddenly replied, surprising Niel, "This isn't my cell phone. I don't know an Alex Reno, but I'm willing to bet this is his cell phone. We found this phone on the ground, near the explosion. We didn't have a clue who it belonged to initially. Guess it's this Alex Reno's, huh?"

Niel's mind froze completely, and he stopped where he was, in the middle of the parking lot. His mind concentrated only on the conversation as more pieces clicked into the massive jigsaw puzzle. "Wait, wait," Niel asked, "What do you mean, explosion? What's going on?"

Briggs hesitated for a moment. "It's not on the news yet," Briggs said stiffly, "At least I don't see any damn reporters around. But there was an explosion just eighteen minutes ago at the Hybrid Shopping Mall. We don't know what's going on, at least, not yet."

Niel, however, had lost track of what Briggs had been saying midsentence. The pieces for the first puzzle had been found, the pieces pieced together, and the message clear. Athrun. Hybrid Shopping Mall. Explosion.

"Did anyone die?" Niel demanded instantly, "Are there any dead or wounded?"

"No, sir," Briggs replied, "Well, there are some wounded, but they were only minor injuries, cuts and bruises. The explosion took place on the third floor on the eastern section, where a plaza was being constructed. No workers were present, and the explosion was too high to actually hurt anyone. We didn't recover any bodies either."

"I see..." Niel nodded, his voice somewhat shaken as he resumed his pace toward his car, noticeably quicker than before, "Thank you, Officer Briggs. I'll see if I can located Alex elsewhere. Good luck to your efforts."

"Thank you, sir," Briggs replied, and the line was cut.

Niel didn't know whether to feel relieved or uneasy. There were no bodies. There were a few wounded, but only minor wounds. But he had not located Athrun. Under normal circumstances, not being able to locate Athrun would hardly be a worry, but Athrun had come out to meet Niel for an appointment, one that Niel did not schedule.

Niel continued to think. What if Athrun had dropped his cell phone during the explosion? Maybe he was fine, had just dropped it in surprise. If that was so, it meant Athrun was well, but Niel would still need to find out what was going on about the appointment. On the other hand, Athrun was not the kind to drop things when surprised. Of course, there were always exceptions but...

_Damn it, Neil_, Niel thought, _quit trying to make exceptions when things aren't working the way you think. But are you trying to curse Athrun? Come on, you know him, he should be fine. Besides, everything might just be a coincidence._

Niel struggled with is inner mind, but was not quite able to find a convincing argument to settle his unease. As he stepped up to his red sports car, he unlocked the door while dialing another number on his cell phone. Getting into the car, he hit the send button, closed the door, and started up the car.

The phone was answered after two rings. "Yzak Jule speaking," came the tenor voice in reply, "Niel, that's you, right?"

"Yzak," Niel smiled slightly, "I didn't realize you were a soothsayer."

Yzak's voice told Niel he was amused. "The great Niel Schneider making a joke? The sun's setting in the west, Niel. And for your information, my phone here can identify the caller before I pick up the phone, you know."

"Actually, the sun sets northwest here on Feburarius Three," Niel said as he pulled his car on reverse and headed for the highway.

"Enough of that," Yzak replied, annoyed, "You didn't call me for no reason, did you?"

Niel's voice turned serious as he hooked the cell phone with the speakers on the car, not wanting to hold the steering wheel with only one hand. "Yzak," Niel asked, "Did Athrun tell you anything about meeting me at the Hybrid Shopping Mall at five today?"

Yzak sounded truly incredulous, his voice beginning to rise with an impatient ire. "You didn't call me just to ask that, did you?" Yzak nearly yelled.

"Yzak," Niel's voice rose just slightly, "I mean it. Did Athrun mention it to you?"

"Niel," Yzak growled, "I've been working in the captain's quarters on the _Scorpio_ for the last eight hours, with paperwork to boot, and the brass from the National Defense Committee calling me every damn ten minutes; I don't..."

"I don't need your work itinerary, Yzak," Niel's said harshly, "Did Athrun tell you or not?"

There was a moment's pause, before Yzak replied flatly. "No."

"Okay, then," Niel sighed, "Thanks. I'll hang up, see if I can..."

"You are not hanging up!" Yzak shouted, his voice now considerably high-pitched, "You called me asking me if Athrun told me something close to useless, I want to know why!"

Niel paused for a moment, thinking. Well, it couldn't hurt if Yzak knew. Besides, Yzak was a captain, ranking higher than Niel; if anything happened Athrun, Yzak would be able to pull more strings than Niel could. But he felt justified in defusing the situation a bit.

"You mean you don't want to hear the brass' call for this period of ten minutes, right?" Niel joked.

Niel could tell by the extended silence that Yzak was stunned. Then, a snort, one of good humor. "Today certainly is a day full of surprises," Yzak said good-naturedly, "So you going to tell me or not?"

Niel sighed as he pulled onto the highway. "I checked my cellphone and realized Athrun had been waiting for me at the Hybrid Shopping Mall at five," he explained, "When I called Athrun's cell, a police officer was the one to pick up the phone and tell me that the shopping mall had exploded around five minutes after five."

Yzak paused on the other end of the line, stunned. "So you're telling me," Yzak groped for words, "that Athrun is..."

"The police didn't find any bodies," Niel stated.

Yzak sighed. "Well that's a relief..." he suddenly paused, then started, "Wait, then why ask me if Athrun told me anything about meeting you..."

"I didn't make the appointment," Niel explained hurriedly, "I didn't tell Athrun to meet me at the Hybrid Shopping Mall. But his message clearly said that he was waiting for me. And I don't forget things easily, Yzak, you know that..."

"I know," Yzak cut him off, "And I know what you're thinking. You're thinking that the explosion was timed perfectly with luring Athrun out, right?"

"Yeah," Niel nodded, surprised that Yzak actually had the initiative this time.

"Quit being paranoid, Niel," Yzak muttered, "You're..."

"It fits perfectly," Niel argued, "Don't tell me you're not thinking the same thing."

Yzak paused once more, and finally admitted sheepishly, "Yeah, I kind of am."

"Look," Niel sighed, "I don't really know what's going on yet, and I can't go check it out, because I've got a busy schedule today; I'm on my way to..."

"Oh, and I'm not busy?" Yzak snapped, aggravated, "I told you, I'm..."

"Fine," Niel interrupted Yzak, knowing that he would complain for three minutes straight of Niel let him continue, "Look, I'll try and check up what's going on as soon as possible. Maybe it's just a coincidence, maybe I was being silly. I don't know. But I aim to find out."

"Right," Yzak sighed in concurrence, "Tell me when you have anything." The line clicked on his end.

* * *

Admiral Orlando Chester had waited all day for the call, and when he picked it up, he was certainly unhappy of the response given to him. 

"Mission failed, sir. Target not located."

A man of medium-build, Admiral Chester was in his late-fifties, a military man who had made his way up the ranks through dedication to the ZAFT. An athletically fit man who made sure that his morning was occupied with basketball with his junior officers, he had earned the nickname "OWANGO", a silly abbreviation of "one who ages, but never grows old". Universally respected by people above and below him, he had fashioned a great carrier through his life, a career that was about to reach its peak and was now turning on him with the phone call.

"What do you mean, target not located?" Chester demanded harshly into the phone.

"We could not find Alex Reno," the voice on the other end, a voice that sounded like a mix between a whisper and a hiss, "He was not located at his residence. Someone saw him leave, did not know where. And we certainly don't have permission to search his house. We did a fly-by, though; aerial surveillance through the windows show negative. No one's answering the door either."

Chester pressed his lips together, a scowl forming on his face. Finally, he said, "Put all teams on standby. Take positions around his residence; inform me when he returns. When he returns, escort him here. Just tell him that I asked for his arrival, don't tell him anything else. You don't need permission from me to do that, but I want to know when you find him."

"Acknowledged, sir," the voice on the other end confirmed, "Our eyes are open."

Chester sighed as the line went dead. Inside his office in the Haven, he had been here for the last eighteen hours trying to piece together and salvage what could be the most successful political maneuver for him if he had succeeded. But now, with the disappearance of Alex Reno, or, more precisely, Athrun Zala, his plans were falling apart. And his instincts, as well as his analysts, have already predicted what can be a possibility if they don't locate their missing man quickly: Another all-out war between ZAFT and the Earth Alliance.

Chester rubbed his eyes for a moment, draining the weariness from his eyes, as he spoke into a microphone built into his computer. "Contact, Lacus Clyne," Chester spoke clearly into the computer. The computer immediately started ringing, which was answered almost immediately.

"Good evening, Senator Lacus Clyne speaking," a soft, lovely female voice sounded from the other end.

From a very young age, Sigel Clyne, Lacus' father, and Chester had been good friends, classmates in a geopolitics course. They grew up in service of the PLANT government, where Clyne decided to lean in favor of legislation, while Chester was attracted by the military. They still remained steadfast friends, however, and more often than not had dinner together. He had also met his daughter, Lacus, many times, and thought her a sweet daughter, if not somewhat naïve and single-minded. Even after the Clyne family had been branded as traitors a year ago, a charge that had been cleared after the war, Chester could never really believe that Lacus had been a traitor. Thus, during the Battle of Yakin-Duue, Chester had left specific instructions to his own forces, telling them to avoid the forces of the Clyne Faction and Orb. In Chester's opinion, it was one of the smarter decisions he had made in his career.

"Good evening, Senator," Chester said as he stood up and moved over to the coffee machine on the other end of his room, "This is Admiral Orlando Chester."

"It's pleasant to hear from you, Admiral," Lacus responded, "It has been a long time since I heard your voice. May I ask what inspires your call to me?"

"I know it may be likely I shouldn't trouble you with this kind of question," Chester said as he poured himself a cup of coffee, and moved back to his desk, "But I was wondering if you have seen Mr. Zala lately."

"Athrun Zala?" Lacus asked, her voice betraying surprise, "No, I haven't seen him lately. Is there any reason why you are asking?"

"Well, not anything important," Chester forced a chuckle, "It's just that it's been a while since he's applied for an extended leave, and we were just getting a little worried that he might've been sick or something. We weren't able to reach him, so we thought about pulling his contacts one by one." It was an obvious lie; they weren't just worried for him, they needed Athrun back as soon as possible. It concerned national security, and it was probably now on the priority list of military.

"I see," Lacus replied quickly, but Chester felt that Lacus probably knew it was a lie. No one called a senator of the ZAFT Supreme Council just to ask if a good friend had seen her lately. She probably had a lead now, but Chester wasn't about to stop her. It would probably help if she knew at one point or another, but timing and trust was important. It was probably better that Chester not mention anything.

"Well," Chester cleared his throat, "I'd hate to take any more of your time, Senator. I should be hanging up now. Please ask Mr. Zala to contact me if you see him."

"I will, Admiral," Lacus replied, and the line disconnected. Inwardly, Chester swore. Where in the hell was Athrun? Just when they needed him most, where was he?

The phone suddenly ran again, which Chester activated with alacrity. "Yes?" he practically blurted into the microphone.

"Good evening, Admiral Chester," an unfamiliar voice sounded through the speakers, "This is Captain Yzak Jule of the _Scorpio_."

"Captain Yzak Jule?" Chester placed apprehension in his voice as his computer, instantly acknowledging the tone, ran a search queue on Captain Yzak Jule and came back with identification records, and Chester noted that Yzak had been friends, teammates, with Athrun far before Athrun took up the name Alex Reno, "Ah, I see. The son of Senator Ezaria Jule. Your records are rather impressive, Captain Jule, I hold that to your credit. Do you need anything?"

"Thank you, sir," Yzak replied, and the Admiral noted that his voice was all business, "I apologize if I'm disturbing you, but the operator routed the call here, saying that you were in charge of all human resources. I'd like to ask if anyone has seen an Alex Reno around..."

"You're free to use the name Athrun Zala with me," the Admiral interrupted.

Yzak paused for a moment, perhaps surprised. "I see," Yzak muttered, "At any rate, I was wondering if anyone over at your unit had seen Athrun."

Chester sipped his coffee, swallowed, and sighed. "Captain," he admitted, "I'd love to ask you just the same thing."

Yzak's second pause was even longer than the first. "Excuse me, Admiral?"

"We're both looking for the same person," Chester explained, sipped his coffee, and continued, "And unfortunately, that person had simply disappeared from the map. Athrun Zala, anyways."

"What happened?" Yzak practically demanded, his voice coming to an edge.

"If you're asking what happened to Mr. Zala, we honestly don't know," Chester admitted, "If you're asking why we're struggling to recall Zala, I believe I should only answer that on a need-to-know basis."

Yzak's response was stiff. "I understand, sir." Which obviously meant he didn't.

"If that's all, Captain," Chester said, "I should be getting back to my work."

"I understand, sir," Yzak concurred, "Excuse me for the interruption of your activities."

"Not at all," Chester responded, and killed the link. He sighed. So, someone had caught onto Athrun as well. Chester spun around in his swivel chair, and wrote on a memo the name of Yzak Jule, and his identification number. If anything had happened to Athrun, perhaps this sharp captain, this Yzak Jule, would prove resourceful.

It was, pretty much, all he could hope for now.

* * *

"It's true," Yzak spoke into the microphone rapidly in the captain's quarters of the _Scorpio_ the moment Niel picked up the phone, "Admiral Orlando Chester is looking for Athrun too. He's not telling me, but I think he needs something from Athrun, and big." 

"Wait, wait, slow down," Niel complained, sounds of the busy traffic-filled streets coming from his end of the line, "Who's Checkers?"

"Chester," Yzak sounded exasperated, "Admiral Orlando Chester; he's Athrun's immediate commanding officer; Athrun works under him."

"Oh, him," Niel said, "What about him?"

"Must I repeat everything?" Yzak scowled, "He's looking for Athrun too, and I think he sounded urgent, like he completely needed to find him. You may be right, Niel, something may have happened to Athrun."

Silence from Niel's end of the line. "So no one's heard from Athrun," he stated.

"No one," Yzak emphasized, "And Chester definitely sounded on the edge."

"What do you mean?" Niel asked.

"Well, he was saying a whole bunch of stuff, and I asked what happened. Chester said something about he didn't know about Athrun, and if it's what's compelling me to know about Athrun, that's on a need-to-know basis. The only thing that goes on a need-to-know basis are orders from the top brass and geopolitical issues. You know that as well as I do..."

"I know, I know," Niel interrupted, "But come on, you know that Athrun works as an analyst for stuff that are classified; Chester could've just not wanted you peeking around affairs that could concern the higher echelons. Hell, he might've simply not wanted you poking around."

"No, you don't understand," Yzak growled, "He was on the edge. The Admiral was on the edge, he was desperately looking for Athrun; I can tell."

"Sure you can," Niel replied bluntly. Yzak had to focus on those three words for five seconds to make sure Niel didn't say them sarcastically.

"Hey, look," Niel said, "I got to go; I have a meeting over the dinner table tonight, and I don't want to embarrass my superiors by showing up on a cell phone..."

"Wait, Niel..."

"Talk to you later." The phone went dead.

"Damn it!" Yzak hissed as he slammed a fist onto the desk, annoyed by Niel's abrupt behavior. He was the one that brought this up in the first place, and now he was giving Yzak a hard time. He scowled as he tried to piece the two conversations he had had for the last five minutes together.

Where was Athrun? And if something had happened to him, what?

* * *

The _Eternal_ drifted peacefully in space as it docked with the docking clamps of Colony Mendel in the L4 Cluster, the red battleship safely hidden in the alcove of the asteroid, shielded from radar detection. It was, of course, merely an extra precaution; the Earth Alliance and ZAFT were under strict regulations not to make any "aggressive actions" against the Peace Project. But Captain Andrew Bartfeldt preferred to be careful than sorry, and the entire Colony Mendel, once a gene manipulation lab, had now turned into a fortress for the ZAFT military extension. 

After the Battle of Yakin-Duue, Andrew Bartfeldt had received stern orders from the Supreme Council to return to ZAFT, return the _Eternal_ and all the equipment, weapons, and mobile suits it had contained. Quite naturally, they also demanded all the specs on Meteor, the maneuver extension pack used by Freedom and Justice in the battle, and the remains of Freedom, which had been salvaged by the _Eternal_ after the battle. In other words, ZAFT was dying to get their hands back on the Tiger of the Desert.

Quite expectedly, they were orders that Bartfeldt disobeyed quite promptly.

Rather, Bartfeldt, secretly convinced by Lacus Clyne, joined Hitomi Varyvae's Peace Project, taking the _Eternal_, all the equipment, weapons, and mobile suits with him, as well as the specs on Meteor, and the remains of Freedom. Bartfeldt enjoyed entertaining himself by imagining the expression on the face of ZAFT's top officers when they realized that Bartfeldt went somewhere they couldn't touch him legally, as the Peace Project, although an extension of ZAFT, was clearly an independent organization recognized by ZAFT, the Earth Alliance, and Orb.

"Captain," the CIC officer on board the _Eternal_ suddenly summoned Bartfeldt's attention, "Thermal contacts detected at grid seventeen by four, distance, twenty-thousand. Initial analysis shows the thermal speculations of a large-scale battleship." The bridge, other than Bartfeldt, the navigations officer, and the CIC officer, was devoid of all other personnel.

"Grid seventeen by four, huh?" Bartfeldt said good naturedly as he used his right hand, his only remaining true hand, to summon the star chart to his console, "That would be from the direction of PLANT, right?"

"Yes, sir," the CIC officer confirmed.

"Can you estimate its destination?" Bartfeldt asked, "And who's ship is it?"

"Judging by their current heading, I cannot speculate on their destination. As for who's ship, the ship is carrying traces of an authentic, but altered, ZAFT identification tag."

"Hmm," Bartfeldt scratched his beard, "A ZAFT battleship, huh? It's passing rather close to the L4 Cluster. Obtain a visual of the ship, and raise the status of the place to condition yellow."

"Raising status to condition yellow," the CIC officer confirmed, "I'm working on obtaining an image now."

"Warm the reactors," Bartfeldt nodded to the navigations officer, "We're going back out if we have to. Push them to eighty percent."

"Aye," the navigations officer replied, "Reactors to eighty percent. Engines running hot."

"Sir," the CIC officer reported, "I've obtained imagery on the ship. And the ship is changing its heading."

The image of the ship appeared on screen immediately, showing a Nazca-class battleship being escorted by a compliment of mobile suits. No wonder their initial readings had been off; the Nazca-class, although merely a medium-scale destroyer, had a mobile suit escort, which expanded its thermal reading, leading for the _Eternal's_ sensors to assume it was a large-scale battleship.

"Go on, tell me," Bartfeldt nodded, "Where are they headed now?"

"They're turning back for PLANT, sir," the CIC officer reported.

Bartfeldt squinted his eyes. Something was up around PLANT, and Bartfeldt could feel it. But he certainly couldn't poke his nose around PLANT and ZAFT. That basically meant there was only one thing he could do. He activated the communications program on his console, and began to link up with First Lieutenant Aiden Renguard.


	3. Chapter Two

Chapter Two

Second Lieutenant Riku Ikari placed himself in the seat of the private dining room in the restaurant Babylon Gold. It wasn't his first time here; First Lieutenant Aiden Renguard had expressed that it was his favorite restaurant in all of PLANT, and they frequented here, holding their meetings as the ZAFT extension of the Ace-Ops and the Peace Project. The private dining room was a luxury of its own, with gold, white, and red coloring the entire room to a sense of royalty. The people here were all dressed in their formal clothes for dinner.

In reality, though, Riku was only here for the third time. Relatively new to the Ace-Ops, only having been in two sorties since he had joined, Riku was essentially the nugget, the rookie around here, recommended to the Ace-Ops by Colonel Josiah March. Perhaps the youngest and the least in experience, Aiden had always suggested Riku to simply stay in line, and he'll catch up with the flow eventually.

Riku, light-build and essentially slender, had just passed his eighteenth birthday last month. With brown hair and emerald eyes, he looked relatively at ease from the outside, but those who knew him also knew he was somewhat impulsive. It was something that Aiden had expressed disapproval of. "The Ace-Ops operate under complete calmness," Aiden had said, "I will not attempt to disagree if you say you are more talented than any of the other pilots, but I can assure you that each pilot of the Ace-Ops will never waver in a battle, from start to finish."

Riku took the words to heart, but never found himself able to control his often rising ire. He was, however, snapped from his thoughts as the last expected guest appeared in the doorway.

"Niel," Aiden smiled from his end of the table, "Predictably on time, but unfortunately, everyone else arrived early today. You're the last one."

Niel smiled as he closed the door behind him and slipped into a seat. "At least I'm not late."

"That's good," Aiden nodded, then turned to the six other people around the table, "So, business or food first?"

"Food," a crescendo of agreement sounded around the table, "Definitely food."

And so they ate. Riku took a moment to survey each of the ZAFT members of the Ace-Ops.

Aiden Renguard was essentially the chief of operations of the Ace-Ops. He was also high up the list in the Peace Project; Riku viewed him as an intelligent, composed, and understanding commander. While Aiden seemed serious most of the time, Riku also knew he spent time developing mutual trust between the team. Aiden was someone to depend on.

Hitomi Varyvae, seated next to Aiden, was essentially the heart of the Peace Project. A black haired, green eyed lieutenant commander, Hitomi was a lovely and delicate figure in her own right. The Peace Project was her suggestion to the ZAFT Supreme Council, and although its base was, more or less, established by the higher echelons of the PLANT intelligence community, she was the one who had viewed an independent, ZAFT-founded organization that was dedicated to peace between the Earth Alliance and ZAFT. But even though she was the acknowledged leader, Aiden was essentially the boss around the Peace Project; Hitomi was well-known for her extreme shyness, which made it difficult for her to make any decisions or give any orders. Riku considered her kind and important, to be respected, but not to be taken seriously under normal circumstances.

Niel Schneider, meanwhile, was quite possibly the sharpest and most intelligent of all of Ace-Ops, if Aiden didn't fill that role. Famous for his foresight and memory, Niel was one of the veterans of Yakin-Duue. Taking command of his squad after his command officer died, Niel led a coordinated attack against the Earth fleet before Genesis fired, and successfully destroyed seven battleships without sustaining any casualties on his side. He was to be treated with the same respect and seriousness as Aiden.

Derlude Helsrang was perhaps the opposite of both Aiden and Derlude. A lanky, sarcastic, and cocky pilot, Derlude had a well-reputed record of kills and verbal puns. While a capable pilot, he was liked, but not necessarily respected, where he was usually the center of company. Riku found him annoying, and more than once got into a shoutmatch with him.

Irene Vaelmont was not exactly a pilot of the Ace-Ops, but rather, a political officer in place of Senator Leland, who was away at Orb for reasons that were not revealed yet. The daughter from a long line of diplomats, Irene was patient, tactful, regal. Well-mannered and efficient, she looked regal with her rich skin, white hair, and purple eyes. Riku knew she was important, but didn't know her quite well yet to pass judgment on her.

Ayame Kaliea was a secret closed onto herself. With strands of brown hair over her red eyes, there were always rumors about the silent, enigmatic first lieutenant, who was a silent weapon of one. While Riku knew she was extremely capable in a mobile suit, he also heard rumors that Ayame was a specialist in assassination, rumors that Riku didn't necessarily believe, but kept it in his mind. In a sense, Riku didn't know how to regard her.

When they had filled their appetite and Aiden had asked the waiters to take the trays away, they pulled their seats closed to the table, conveying a feeling of secrecy and importance.

"Well, then," Derlude smacked his lips, "You called us all out for dinner; what's the deal with this one, then?"

"Well, there were three things I wanted to tell you guys today," Aiden places his arms on the table as he leaned forward, "One is that we just received news from Orb. Senator Leland has confirmed that Cagalli Yula Attha is now Representative of Orb."

Nods of approval around the table. All of them knew the importance of Cagalli in such a position of Orb; before Orb had been destroyed in the Morgenraete explosion, ZAFT enjoyed a peaceful trade relationship with Orb. After Davenport took the position of Representative, though, the economy of Orb had went on a downhill decline. Without doubt, the rise of Cagalli Yula Attha would improve the economy of Orb, and continue its relationship with ZAFT.

"The second thing, is of less pleasant news," Aiden continued, "General Arthur Cromwell of the Earth Alliance has just been assassinated."

The table broke into a storm of mutters. General Arthur Cromwell was a name that showed up more often than not on the news. One of the more moderate generals of the Earth Alliance, he had been among the few authorities among the Naturals who believed coexistence between Naturals and Coordinators was possible. He was respected by many both on Earth and around PLANT, who had been leading Earth on the way to unity between Naturals and Coordinators.

"Blue Cosmos?" Irene asked.

"Likely," Aiden nodded, "Although Blue Cosmos had been pretty dormant before, and Cromwell was respected even by the most hardline anti-Coordinator leaders, I guess our analysts were wrong; it seems that hate directed against Cromwell was indeed pretty strong."

"What method of assassination?" Niel asked, his eyes squinted.

"Sniper," Aiden answered, "He was going to a conference in Washington in an unmarked car without an escort. Practically no one could've figured out the car had someone important."

"Which meant they were tipped off," Niel concluded, "Someone close to Cromwell, someone who could get to Cromwell's schedule, is a traitor."

"Take any guesses who?" Derlude asked.

"I wouldn't try," Niel shrugged, "A great number of people could've known where he was going. Co-workers, the people attending the meeting, staff, servants that knew of his schedule. It could've been passed to anyone."

"Sounds like a great amount of space to grope though," Derlude muttered, shaking his head, "We'll leave that to Earth, but is there any reason why you mentioned this, Aiden?"

"Yeah," Aiden nodded, "Because of this, the peace between ZAFT and the Earth Alliance is probably going to break apart soon. The Supreme Council is ordering a condition yellow warning throughout the military, but since the order hasn't been passed yet, we're basically the first people outside the Supreme Council that know of this. Congratulations, we're the first to learn of stuff. Again. We're going to thank Hitomi for that."

Hitomi blushed furiously and her gaze dropped. "Well, I was just informed by my contact next to Canaver, so it wasn't really my knowing."

"Well," Riku helped, "It's great we get intelligence quickly through your contact. We've got to thank you one way or another."

As if it was an impossible task, Hitomi's cheeks went even redder.

"So we're going to be reporting to the _Kalima_ pretty soon," Aiden continued, "I'd better inform Colony Mendel as well, see if I can reach Captain Bartfeldt. He should know pretty soon."

"What's the third thing?" Irene asked.

"It's actually a minor thing," Aiden admitted, "But the Hybrid Shopping Mall just blew up today."

"It didn't blow up," Niel corrected, "A bomb detonated an empty plaza that was under construction on the third floor. No one was killed or seriously injured."

Aiden smiled. "Seems like someone's certainly in the know today."

Niel scratched his head. "Well, I learned about that by accident, really. I was calling a friend. Well, let's just say I somehow found out."

"Fine with me," Aiden shrugged. He caught eye of Derlude giving him a look of apprehension, clearly asking Aiden if he knew if Athrun was taken during that raid or not. Aiden sent a subtle nod in Derlude's direction, allaying his suspicions.

"Looks like we have some enemies pretty close to home," Irene muttered, "That bomb could've been sabotage, for all I care."

"It's not like that," Ayame spoke up for the first time in the entire conversation, "A bomb conveniently placed on the third floor plaza in a place where it was clearly abandoned clearly sends a message; they didn't want to blow up anyone. Which means the people who planted the bomb are most likely Coordinators. People on our side who don't feel comfortable about killing their own people."

Aiden smiled again, clearly impressed. "You have a hunch?" Aiden asked.

"Perhaps," Ayame shrugged, "It's very likely that the bomb was placed there merely for a distraction, to attract attention, not necessarily to blow anything up. Through the entire evacuation procedure, people can very well grab something and run away with it, perhaps expensive from a store, but seeing how it was a bomb, likely to be planted by someone with military experience, it's more likely that..."

"Is it possible that they run away with a human?" Niel suddenly interrupted.

Ayame seemed surprised at the sudden interruption. "Why not?" she shrugged her bare shoulders, "They could've grabbed anything movable."

"Why do you ask?" Riku asked.

Niel gritted his teeth for a moment, then said, "Because I think I found out where someone disappeared to."

There was a moment of silence, which was promptly broken by the ringing of Aiden's cell phone. "Excuse me," Aiden said, and picked up the phone, stepped the the corner of the room, holding a quiet conversation with whoever was on the other end.

"I'll be on the phone too," Niel said, as he got up from his chair and dialed the number for Yzak.

* * *

"What if I told you I knew why Admiral Chester wanted Athrun back so badly?" Niel blurted into his cell phone the moment Yzak picked up the phone. 

"I'd tell you that you need a doctor," Yzak muttered on the other end as he handed his co-captain some paperwork to be filed to Fleet Command, then continued to float around the bridge of the _Kalima_ in zero gravity, "Honestly, Niel, I have been searching through caches of information for the half an hour looking for clues, and you're telling me you just learned what's going on over a single dinner?"

"Shut up and listen," Niel snapped, "I was at a dinner conference with First Lieutenant Aiden Renguard, who is the chief of operations of the Peace Project. You know what just happened? What happened precisely two hours ago?"

"I don't have a damn clue," Yzak growled, "And if you're telling me it's the explosion, that was an hour and a half ago. And yes, we already know that the Council issued a nationwide condition yellow alert. It's getting busy here; everyone's rushing back to their ship, and paperwork is flying my way like crazy."

"General Arthur Cromwell died two hours ago," Niel said, his voice practically a whisper, "Assassinated. And he was assassinated half an hour after he had been placed under house arrest. The entire thing smells like Blue Cosmos."

"Yeah, what about it?" Yzak asked tried to hide his surprise, but without success.

"Doesn't it make sense?" Niel growled, "This is Athrun's field of work. He's an analyst. And one of the major factors of peace between PLANT and Earth has just been offed."

"Niel," Yzak countered, "That's hardly reason enough for Admiral Chester to want Athrun back like this."

"Why not? Why the hell not?"

"It's just something. It isn't big enough for Chester to make getting Athrun back a priority."

"And how the hell do you know Chester was dying to get Athrun back?"

"Damn it, I told you, he sounded like it! Tone, word usage. He even told me the condition was on a need-to-know basis. Why the hell would something like that be on a need-to-know basis?"

"Why if Cromwell's assassination was that condition on a need-to-know basis?"

"I don't know," Yzak admitted, but paused as orders suddenly came onto his computer from Fleet Command. He took a quick look; they didn't seem good.

"Niel," Yzak said into the cell, "I have to go; the _Scorpio_ has to sortie."

"_What_?" Niel sounded incredulous, "What's going on?"

Yzak smiled as he quickly gave a hand signal to his navigations officer, who was already plotting a course out of Marius Four's dock, and spoke the following words with amusement in his voice. "That's information on a need-to-know basis." He hung up, just before his ship's engines flared to life, and the _Scorpio_ drifted out toward space.

* * *

Ayame watched each of the room's occupants silently as she assembled her thoughts together. Aiden was finishing up his phone call; Niel already hung up and came back to the table, with a scowl on his face. Hitomi, Riku, and Irene were holding a conversation as to what was going on, and Derlude was relatively at ease, almost as if he knew exactly what was going on. 

Ayame relaxed her muscles; despite seeming slender, she had a firm set of muscles, trained throughout her youth by one her lips did not deserve to utter the name. She studied the room in the manner in which _he_ had taught her to study, watching every detail, noting every difference. It was beyond Ayame to question the loyalty of such people, but such actions came out of habit rather than intuition.

Aiden came back to the table as he closed his cell phone, sitting down in his seat. "I've just received news from Captain Bartfeldt," Aiden remarked, "He's saying that a ZAFT battleship with an altered signature had moved toward Colony Mendel several minutes ago, but is now headed back toward PLANT. He suspects something."

"I suspect something too," Niel added, "I just called one of my friends, captain of a destroyer. He said that he just received orders to sortie; didn't tell me for what."

"Dangerous waters, we're treading in," Derlude marked with a smile, a somewhat strangely poetic remark for someone of his character.

Riku sounded eager. "Should we sortie?"

Derlude gave a rude laugh. "And get your ass blown off?" he taunted.

Riku turned red. "I did not..." he started, but Aiden waved a hand in his direction, telling him to refrain from outburst.

"That's enough," Aiden sighed, "We're soldiers, not children. Let's get our act together."

"Riku's got a point," Niel pointed out, "I don't like what's going on. Especially what's been happening for the last hour or so. To me, anyways."

There was a moment of silence, as the members of the Ace-Ops stared at each other, at the ground, deep in thought.

"I think we should sortie," Derlude nodded.

"Sortie," Niel agreed.

"Then we'd better go quickly," Aiden nodded, standing up, and grabbing his cell phone, obviously about to make his calls to those concerned, "We won't be getting any Earth or Orb assistance with this one; it'll be a complete ZAFT-only battle."

* * *

Athrun awoke to the sound of the sudden pressure coming from his side, a familiar feeling of a ship accelerating. Athrun had spent a great amount of time on battleships, and sudden acceleration meant trouble. He opened his eyes, instantly alert, and suddenly realized that he was lying on a bed. Not just any bed, but one belonging to the captain's quarters. Athrun bolted upwards in the bed, stabilized himself to the zero gravity environment, and prevented a collision with the ceiling. He immediately recognized the captain's quarters of a Nazca-class battleship. 

A ZAFT ship.

"I see you're awake."

Athrun spun around to meet the sound, found a man sitting behind the office desk looking at Athrun with amusement. In his fifties, the man seemed to be of high rank, and an insignia on his chest was that of an admiral. Athrun stared at the man with confusion and apprehension, remembering that the last piece of memory he had was that of him being stabbed, and falling unconscious. Athrun could not afford to show any sign of weakness here.

"Interesting," the gray-haired man continued, "You certainly have the blood of our late Chairman Patrick Zala, but you essentially have the face and the eyes of your mother, Miss Lenore Zala. A most beautiful individual, I assure you. But, of course, you already know that; you must've been sixteen during the Bloody Valentine, or was it seventeen? I truly am sorry, Athrun Zala, but as I age, my memory fails me."

Athrun's eyes squinted in suspicion. "Where am I?" he demanded.

"You're in the Nazca-class battleship, the _Lionheart_." the admiral replied, "And I don't recall soldiers not addressing a superior officer as 'sir'."

Athrun grimaced. "I had been knocked out and sent here," Athrun said sharply, "I'm not quite in my prime moods, and I'm still suspicious. Sir."

The admiral laughed as he pushed himself from his chair and floated in the air. "Caution," the admiral nodded, impressed and approving, "It's a trait of your mother. Your father, unfortunately, was not as cautious. He had too many friends, not knowing who was to be trusted, who was not. If I remember correctly, it was his undoing at Yakin-Duue, was it not?"

Athrun winced at the mention of his father, and the admiral laughed once more. "I apologize for the abrupt death of your father," the admiral hastened to say, "And also for my rude behavior in front of you. We all hold great esteem for our former Chairman. Much more than we hold for the ZAFT Supreme Council now, anyways."

"What?" Athrun whispered, but before he could say anymore, a ringing of the computer on the office desk attracted the admiral's attention. The admiral clicked a button to activate the link.

"Admiral," the CIC officer reported from the bridge, "We're closing in on PLANT. Nazca-class on an interception course at orange 45 mark 20 alpha. Weapons prime. Awaiting your orders. Requesting you return to the bridge, sir."

"Have then asked for identification yet?" the admiral asked.

"No, sir," the officer replied, "We're currently using electromagnetic interference to mask ourselves from radar. It's likely they have a visual on us, though."

"Continue on course," the admiral ordered, "Keep the guns hot. Do not fire unless fired upon. Do not answer any communiques. I'll be on the bridge shortly."

"Aye, sir," the officer replied, and the connection was dead.

The admiral picked up his cap and placed it on his head, smiled at Athrun. "Well, then, Athrun Zala," the admiral said, "It seems we're going to be a little busy here."

"What..." Athrun started, but the admiral waved a hand in his direction.

"I would suggest you not to leave this room," the admiral said, "The room is under surveillance and will be locked. And even if you manage to escape, you will not manage to elude the patrols that will look for you afterwards, I assure you. The _Lionheart_ is only such a large ship. Besides, no need to worry, we're not here to harm you. We're all your friends, loyal to your cause. Comrades, you might say."

"You say comrades," Athrun struggled to keep his temper in check, "And yet you're confronting a Nazca-class battleship. What's going on? You're not ZAFT, are you? Who are you? What are your objectives?"

The admiral continued to smile. "That depends what you mean by ZAFT," the admiral shrugged, "Yes, we are ZAFT, but, at the same time, we are no longer ZAFT. ZAFT is not what it once was. It's now just a corrupt puppet government that must be purged or cleansed, your choice. And when I say 'your choice', Athrun Zala, I _mean_ 'your choice'. You will have to make such a decision soon."

Athrun frowned, and tightened several muscles for action. However, he knew better than to strike out against the admiral; he was in zero gravity, and his movement was hindered. Besides, Athrun spotted a lump in the admiral's uniform, a handgun hidden inside. Athrun could only play their game for the moment being. But there was one question he simply had to ask.

"Who are you?" Athrun hissed.

The admiral opened the office door, and turned to face Athrun. "Me?" he laughed, "I'm Admiral Irwin Crawford of the Zala Faction."


	4. Chapter Three

Artgirl150: Kira will be in the story, but whether he goes Seed Mode in this story is kind of irrelevant, since it won't be too important or what not. Sortie essentially means the action of sending an aircraft, or, in this case, a mobile suit, into action for a mission.

Chapter Three

"Attention, unidentified Nazca-class," Yzak practically shouted into the microphone, "This is the _Scorpio_! Shut down your engines and weapons immediately and prepare to be boarded for inspection, or we will blow your ship to Earth and back!" Yzak slammed the microphone down back onto its slot, startling the communications officer stationed there. Yzak growled as he floated back to the command chair, watching the Nazca-class enigma move closer toward the intercepting _Scorpio_.

The incoming Nazca-class was keeping all its weapons hot; Yzak could tell immediately by the thermal signatures received, and Yzak had instructed his weaponry officer to keep their weapons hot as well. A bloody ship-to-ship battle could unfold one thousand kilometers from PLANT within seconds.

"Send out the mobile suits," Yzak demanded, "Tell them to maintain a phalanx formation in front of the ship until ordered! And someone tell them to surrender again when the mobile suits launch!"

"Aye, sir!" two officers on the bridge replied, and snapped to their tasks.

"No response from the incoming Nazca-class," the communications officer informed.

"Send an inventory request to Fleet Command," Yzak ordered, "Tell them to check for any missing Nazca-class ships, and narrow it down for candidates. I want to know what's that ship, and who's commanding it."

"Aye, sir," the communications officer confirmed the orders.

"Mobile suits deployed," the CIC officer informed. On the main screen, a small squad of mobile suits went out to form a phalanx formation in front of the Nazca-class. A relatively triangle formation, Yzak wanted the squad to be able to hit the Nazca-class from different angles when the fighting started, but still stay relatively bunched.

"Attention, unidentified Nazca-class," the communications officer demanded the incoming Nazca-class, "This is the ZAFT ship _Scorpio_! This is your final warning! Please halt your trajectory and deactivate your weapons, or we will be forced to open fire! Repeat..."

The communications officer didn't finish. "Positron signature detected!" the CIC officer shouted, "The Nazca-class is about to fire!"

"Evade!" Yzak shouted, "Full to starboard! Fire main cannons one and two, target, Nazca-class!"

The navigations officer quickly typed in rapid commands to fire the port thrusters, and the ship quickly listed to starboard just in time; the Nazca-class fired, the green beams barely missing the _Scorpio_.

"Main cannons one and two, ready to fire," the weaponry officer said, "Target, enemy Nazca-class!"

"Fire!" Yzak demanded. Immediately, the _Scorpio_ fired four green beams at the enemy Nazca-class. Likewise, the enemy Nazca-class evaded the shots with a starboard thrust.

"Request reinforcements from Fleet Command," Yzak started, "Tell them that the Nazca-class has fired on us, and..."

"Sir!" the CIC officer suddenly interrupted him, "Incoming signatures from pink 74 mark 11 beta. Mobile suits incoming from PLANT!"

* * *

Derlude let out a slow whistle as he watched the space battle unfold in front of him. "Looks like someone's already got a head start," Derlude laughed as he thrust his mobile suit, Vulcan, forward.

"That would be the _Scorpio_," Niel, in his mobile suit, Apollo, explained, "It's commanded by Captain Yzak Jule. A friend of mine."

"You mean the son of Senator Ezaria Jule?" Riku asked, gunning Athena toward the battle.

"Yeah," Niel replied over the COM channel, "One of the veterans of Yakin-Duue."

"And the other ship is our target?" Ayame asked from the very back of the formation in her mobile suit, Loki.

"Yeah," Aiden confirmed in Anubis, "The _Kalima_ will be coming in to support us soon. Hitomi and Irene are already headed for the ship. We'll just have to keep them distracted for as long as we can."

"Roger," the other four replied, and gunned their mobile suits forward. The five mobile suits, comprising part of the ZAFT section of Ace-Ops, jetted forward to support the _Scorpio_ in battle.

Athena, Riku's mobile suit, was a white all-around mobile suit, like Niel, but leaning toward the heavy side. Based off the design of OMNI's Duel, it had a energy saber, a beam rifle, and a multi-missile launching system.

Niel's Apollo, meanwhile, was a green all-around mobile suit, much more balanced than any other. It had a beam rifle, as well as an energy blade, and two small machine guns perched at the side of its head.

Vulcan, Derlude's red mobile suit, was essentially a heavy strike model. Built to withstand punishment, it carried a shoulder mounted chain gun, a shoulder mounted multi-missile launcher, an energy blade, and a shotgun.

Ayame's mobile suit, Loki, was a gray light strike model, based of OMNI's Blitz. It had the same phase shift adaptive camouflage system of Blitz, and sported a sniper rifle, two small head mounted machine guns, and a unguided rocket launcher.

Anubis, Aiden's mobile suit, was an orange all-around mobile suit, built toward the light side. It carried an energy machine gun, an energy scepter that could be used for both long and short range combat, and a multi-missile launcher.

The five traveled in a delta formation, going full speed at the battle ahead. Aiden quickly adjusted the COM channels, broadcasting it toward the ship up ahead. "Attention _Scorpio_," Aiden hailed the _Scorpio_, "This is the 8492nd Squad, identification code one-nine-eight-two-delta, under the National Defense Committee. We're here to support you in battle."

Aiden's broadcast was in line with the Ace-Ops' operation procedure and protocol. The 8492nd Squad was a codename for the Ace-Ops as to not attract any suspicion on the battlefield. Meanwhile, identification code one-nine-eight-two-delta was a data link toward a dead end. ZAFT's intelligence committee used such codes to lead unwitting pursuers into a "classified" query, which would eventually allow one to believe that their field of access is not sufficient. However, in reality, even if one managed to get through the barrier, all they'd find is absolutely nothing. As for the National Defense Committee, well, Senator Leland, Irene, or Hitomi would take care of managing the paperwork that followed for linking the Ace-Ops with the highest organization of military affairs.

"This is the _Scorpio_," a sharp voice replied, "We were not informed of your presence. State your status here."

"Don't respond," Aiden ordered, "Stay off general broadcast channels. Use only our own frequencies. They won't fire on us. And Niel, don't speak up unless you have to; if they manage to tune in on our encrypted channel, I don't want your friend realizing you're here."

"Understood," Niel replied, "I'll maintain radio silence for now."

The battle ahead was a small skirmish, a plain ship-to-ship battle as two dozen mobile suits circled each other, firing lethal beams at each other in combat. Aiden immediately identified them all as Ginns; that meant they probably weren't going to be a problem for the Ace-Ops.

"Maintain radio silence," Aiden ordered, "Go easy on these guys. I want those Ginns to be able to damage the _Scorpio_ enough, but don't let that ship fall anywhere critical; I just don't want them following us and the _Kalima_ when they start retreating. It's easier for us to understand what's going on without the interference of the other ZAFT guys. Give me a ping signal if you understand."

Aiden received four "pings", digital queries that weren't supposed to mean anything other than telling someone that they were there, making them visible on radar. Aiden doubted that the _Scorpio_ can get past their encryption, but just in case they could, Aiden wanted them to hear as little voices as possible. It would make trying to identifying them much harder.

"Engage," Aiden said, "Don't shoot them too eagerly. Remember our goals here."

* * *

Admiral Crawford watched as the five ZAFT mobile suits appeared from screen, and ignored the CIC officer reporting the incoming five targets. "So they're here," Crawford smiled, amused, "Things are about to get interesting."

The five mobile suits, seemingly custom models, quickly engaged Crawford's force of mobile suits, but Crawford felt a certain amount of constraint coming from the mobile suit pilots. As if the five mobile suits were not using their full potential. Well, Crawford didn't worry too much about that.

"Navigation," Crawford ordered, "Prepare to bring us about. Rotate the ship one hundred eighty degrees starboard on my command. Engines to full, and take us out on a new vector, 22 mark 64 beta. Operations, give me one hundred fifty percent from the reactor."

"Aye, sir," the navigations and operations officers replied in unison.

"Course plotted, sir," the navigations officer reported, "We're ready to leave the combat zone on your orders."

"Reactor safeties released," the operations officer added, "Awaiting further orders."

"Well, then," Crawford smiled, "Weaponry, fire main cannon one at orange 44 mark 10 alpha, and main cannon two at orange mark 46 mark 10 alpha on my orders. Navigations, take us out as soon as we fire."

"Aye, sir," the weaponry and navigations officers confirmed their orders.

"Tell the mobile suits to clear a path for us," Crawford said, "It's time we put an end to this pointless battle. Weaponry, fire the cannons."

* * *

"High energy emissions coming from the Nazca-class!" the CIC officer of the _Scorpio_ warned, "It's about to fire its main cannons!"

Yzak growled in fury. So far, all they had been doing was firing at each other blindly, without hitting each other, and just fleeing. The opponent's tactic was simple, but effective, and frustrating. The repetition of such a basic and traditional technique without the usage of daring and bravado kept both at a stalemate; none showed an opening where one could take the advantage of the other. Which meant they could only continue to fire and evade.

"Evade!" Yzak demanded, "Starboard thrusters to port!"

"Evading!" the navigations officer replied, "Starboard thrusters answering to..."

Yzak suddenly realized that his decision was the wrong one. As the ship listed to port, the trajectory of the energy beams became apparent, and Yzak realize that he had been upped by the enemy. The enemy had intended for Yzak to maneuver the _Scorpio_ either port or starboard, and had fired beams in either direction, striking Yzak no matter which direction he dodged. Had he stayed in one place, Yzak would've been fine, but now, he found himself facing the trajectory of the enemy positron beam.

The beam struck the ship, and the ship lurched violently to port, a sign of decompression. The bridge was full of screams as the lights flickered, and it was noticeably hotter on the bridge. The bridge trembled, shaking Yzak's bones even in zero gravity. Yzak grabbed his chair to stabilize himself, and suppressed all sudden outbursts.

"Damage report!" Yzak demanded.

"The enemy beam tore through decks seventeen and eighteen," the operations officer reported shakily, "Eleven percent of electronic hardwires have been burnt away. Engine three is not responding and sub-cannon two has been destroyed."

"Seal all bulkheads on decks seventeen and eighteen, and seal off decks sixteen and nineteen after giving the crew time to evacuate," Yzak ordered, his voice practically shouting, "Relink all our electronic hardwiring and maintain stability within all systems. Get a repair crew to check on the damage of engine three, and reroute power from sub-cannon two."

"Sealing bulkheads on decks seventeen and eighteen," the operations officer hurried his report, "Relinking all electronic hardwiring..."

"Sending request query to repair crew two," the personnel officer added to the crescendo of voices, "Requesting them to check on engine..."

"Sir," the CIC officer reported, "the enemy Nazca-class is now rotating and leaving the battlefield, vector 56 mark 11."

"ZAFT battleship _Scorpio_," a sudden, clear voice sounded from the speakers, and Yzak knew immediately that it was coming from the 8492nd, "This is the 8492nd Squad. Your ship is damaged, your hull compromised. Leave the combat area with all mobile suits; we'll take care of this Nazca-class."

"Wait a second!" Yzak screamed into the microphone, "We're staying here to fight! We have orders from the National Defense Committee! Don't you order me around..."

"Those orders have been rescinded," the 8492nd man replied calmly, "We are here on orders of the National Defense Committee. We'll take care of the Nazca-class. Leave the combat area with all mobile suits immediately. This is not a suggestion, it is an order. Leave the combat with all mobile suits immediately."

"Hey!" Yzak shouted back, "We're..." Yzak stopped, suddenly realized that the 8492nd had already cut the COM link between them. Yzak swore verbally, slamming his fist onto the armrest of the command seat.

"Sir!" the CIC officer suddenly shouted, "Incoming signature from..."

Yzak didn't need the CIC officer to finish; he had already saw the incoming ping incoming from PLANT on his own personal radar screen. He quickly typed in the code to bring him a visual, and what he saw took his breath away.

The incoming ship from behind was not of any class Yzak was familiar with. Shaped like a spearhead, it was a brilliant white, blue, and orange ship that sliced through space, seemingly like a dart. The brilliant blue glow of its engines was blinding, even on the computer screen. Yzak counted multiple weapon placements across its hull.

"This is the ZAFT battleship _Kalima_," a female voice suddenly hailed over the COM channel, "ZAFT battleship _Scorpio_, you are hereby ordered by the National Defense Committee to call back all your mobile suits and return to PLANT for repairs. Repeat, ZAFT battleship _Scorpio_, you are hereby ordered by the National Defense Committee to call back all your mobile suits and return to PLANT for repairs. The 8492nd Squad will take your place."

"What is this?" Yzak hissed, his temper going out of control. First the 8492nd Squad was telling him this, now the battleship _Kalima_. But no transmission was being made from the National Defense Committee themselves. Yzak had reason to feel suspicious, yet if he was wrong, he was the one that was going to be crucified.

"Sir?" the navigations officer said uncertainly, "I'm awaiting further orders, sir."

Yzak squinted at the main screen, scowled at what he was seeing. It wasn't in his favor; the fleeing Nazca-class was retreating at a speed which the _Scorpio_ would not be able to achieve with one engine compromised. And Yzak watched as the _Kalima_, formerly approaching from PLANT, passed the _Scorpio_, eagerly pursuing the enemy Nazca-class.

It seemed he was the only one left behind.

"Sir," the communications officer alerted Yzak, "I'm detecting a narrow-beam transmission from the enemy Nazca-class."

"Patch it through," Yzak growled.

"No, sir," the communications officer shook his head, "The transmission is not directed at us. It's gone now, but I swear that it was directed at Earth."

Yzak squinted. "Where on Earth?" Yzak demanded?

The communications officer clicked his computer three more times, then replied, "Orb, sir."

* * *

Athrun floated in Admiral Crawford's office uneasily. He could feel the gees throwing him around, meaning that the ship was making multiple evasive maneuvers. He hoped that Admiral Crawford had more than one trick up his sleeve; Athrun didn't want be blasted by a energy beam. No, Athrun reprimanded himself, he couldn't afford to think like that. As far as Athrun was concerned, Admiral Crawford was not truly ZAFT; he was of the Zala Faction. He needed to be stopped, no matter what the cost.

Athrun gritted his teeth in fury. His father, holding the vision of ultimate Coordinator supremacy, had recruited fanatically loyal soldiers who shared his insane dreams. And now, Athrun realized that his father had roots deeper into ZAFT and PLANT that Athrun had ever imagined, focusing all Coordinator hatred and magnifying them on the Naturals.

_Was it the death of my mother that did this to him?_ Athrun thought in pain, being unable to accept his father's legacy to ZAFT, the legacy of hate and extinction of the Naturals. _Why is this happening?_

Athrun twirled around in zero gravity, endlessly frustrated. He stopped himself in midair, and suddenly noticed from his altitude that there was something on Admiral Crawford's computer screen. Athrun floated over to it, and realized Admiral Crawford had been careless enough to leave his computer active. Athrun tapped several commands, but then, a password prompt came to life, asking Athrun to enter the password.

_So maybe not _that_ careless_, Athrun thought. He canceled the prompt, realized that with his current access, the only window he could keep active on Crawford's computer was a communication window that already had a designated target. Apparently, Crawford was about to send a message somewhere, but the current battle got his attention instead. Athrun scanned through the information; the transmission was already targeted at Earth.

At Orb.

Athrun frowned. What did Crawford have to do with Orb? Why was Crawford about to contact Orb? Athrun probably wouldn't know, but he realized that the communication software would serve another purpose: A distress signal.

Athrun moved quickly. Fine-tuning the frequency to Orb, he clicked "Transmit" on the screen. He was live on Orb, to whatever ears Athrun prayed would be listening.

"This is Athrun Zala of ZAFT," Athrun spoke clearly into the microphone, "Repeat, this is Athrun Zala of ZAFT."

* * *

Kira Yamato was, truth to be admitted, more than surprised when he had received the phone call from his twin sister, Cagalli, revealing news that she was to be inserted as the Representative of Orb. While Kira was elated that Cagalli seemed bright at the prospect of returning Orb to its former state, Kira refused to allow himself to be too happy; it did seem late for them to reinstate Cagalli as Representative. He couldn't shake off the feeling that Cagalli was being used; it was a plethora of experience that fed that feeling to him.

"We're practically the only Orb civilians to know," had said to Murrue Ramius, his former superior and the former captain of the Archangel, "And, quite likely, we may be the only civilians around Orb that know Cagalli is about to be used."

"But Cagalli isn't that naïve, is she?" Murrue had replied, "She certainly should know she's being used."

"She knows," Kira had agreed, "But knowing can only force her to be careful. She doesn't know how they want to use her, which means she can only watch for the dagger, but not know where the dagger comes from."

Seated on the second floor balcony of the estate overlooking downtown Orb, Kira watched the afternoon traffic as the sun shined pleasantly overhead. A laptop on the table in front of him, it displayed the final draft of the essay for his second course of geopolitics. Kira had developed a hatred of geopolitics during the war, but since he had enrolled for it when he had still been civilian, he found the necessity to finish the course.

After the war, Kira handed the mobile suit Freedom to Andrew Bartfeldt, who was to command the _Eternal_ for the ZAFT-funded Peace Project. He cut all ties with the Earth Alliance, and returned to Orb's satellite islands. The majority of the Archangel crew also went to Orb, and Murrue was one of them. Murrue used what funds she to sustain a living, and found Kira was living alone. While Murrue wasn't sure why Kira wasn't with his parents, he had once overheard comments that Kira was afraid to face his parents, because it would make him want to ask why they made Kira a Coordinator. But for some reason, Murrue didn't think it was true.

Eventually, Cagalli returned to Orb after helping negotiations at PLANT, but found herself dissatisfied with the direction Orb was taking, and decided to cut ties with Orb's political affairs, and left a huge sum of money, part of Uzumi Nalah Attha's legacy, to Kira and Murrue. Cagalli had to force the money to her twin brother and the former captain of the Archangel, who were reluctant to accept. When asked by Murrue what Kira intended to do with the money, Kira said he wanted to go someplace quiet. Murrue thus found a quiet estate up on the mountains of Onogorro Island, overlooking downtown, and she made Kira settle in with her. She had seen the way Kira lived; the war had taken something out of Kira, and he was usually in one depressive mood after another, his living conditions barren. It was obvious that Kira had difficulty taking care of himself, and Murrue figured that if he wasn't living with his parents, she, as Kira's former superior and "guardian", would take care of him.

Results weren't half bad, either. Someone to talk to helped Kira's moods a lot.

"Still doing your homework?" Murrue smiled as she stepped onto the balcony, with her portable radio, "We should go and have lunch soon." Dressed in a pair of jeans and a T-shirt, she sat beside Kira, joining him in the noon soon.

"We call these things 'long-term projects', not homework," Kira smiled, "At any rate, I should be done in a moment. Besides, we will probably need to hurry over to the Hall of Congregation to watch Cagalli inaugurated as Representative."

"Truer words have never been voiced," Murrue replied, and turned on the radio. Her transistor radio was a little gift from Bartfeldt. It received a plethora of radio waves and transmissions, and the reason Bartfeldt had given it to her was so she could tune into military frequencies, many of them encrypted and secret. Of course, such things were forbidden by Earth, ZAFT, and Orb, but Bartfeldt always had a thing for mischief, and he thought he could share the wealth with Murrue. The radio was built as a digital type, acting as a computer with a playback and record function. Quite typically, the radio records everything within thirty seconds, and continues to "forget" everything that passes the thirty second limit, meaning anything that was received thirty seconds ago was still recoverable and could be recorded.

"Let's see what we have on the radio today," Murrue said as she flicked the power switch on the radio. She pressed the scan button, and immediately, the radio began to scan for random broadcasts.

"It's probably going to be communications for getting the inauguration preparations set," Kira noted as he sipped on a cup of lemonade next to the laptop, "The M1 Astrays will probably be flying formation this evening. And there will be ZAFT guests."

"I'll be surprised if I see someone representing the Atlantic Federation," Murrue quipped, "They aren't quite glad with the direction Orb has been taking."

"There will probably be an ambassador of sorts," Kira shrugged, "Even Orb has an ambassador at Washington. But don't expect too much attention from the Atlantic Federation."

"...broadcast, which is based on the confirmed facts that Miss Cagalli Yula Attha, daughter of the late Representative Uzumi Nalah Attha, will be taking the title of Representative this evening," the radio chirped the voice of a news broadcaster as the radio continued to scan the incoming frequencies, "Sources from the capital have officially confirmed the death of late Representative Roland Davenport, who has suffered a heart..." The radio interrupted the broadcaster, cutting it off as it jumped to the next frequency.

Kira smiled. "Sounds like Cagalli will be receiving a lot of attention."

Murrue laughed. "I wonder how she feels."

"...Astrays to hangar seventeen," the radio tuned, obviously to an Orb command center, preparing for Cagalli's inauguration ceremony, "Requesting any repair crew near hangar five to replace damaged coolant vent. Third shift, please report to your respective stations in five minutes. Commanding Officer Kisaka, please come to the command center; an urgent message from the Congregation Hall is awaiting your..." The radio jumped again.

"Everyone's certainly busy," Murrue shrugged as she reached over for the radio, preparing to turn it off.

"...Zala of ZAFT. Repeat, this is Athrun Zala of ZAFT."

The voice that came from the radio startled both Kira and Murrue, and Murrue quickly retracted her hand, having second thoughts about turning the radio off. Murrue stopped the scan function, leaving the radio picking up this frequency.

"I am currently being held captive aboard a renegade ZAFT Nazca-class battleship, the _Lionheart_," Athrun continued, "Anyone hearing this transmission, please..." The frequency suddenly fell into static.

"Looks like the transmission was cut off in mid-packet," Murrue whispered as she looked at the LCD of the radio, "Apparently, someone had heard him make a transmission and stopped him."

"Athrun?" Kira whispered, staring at the radio, "Captive? What's going on here?"

Murrue placed a firm hand on Kira's shoulder. "Kira," Murrue demanded, "Calm down. We don't know what's going on yet. Calm down."

It helped. In Kira stared at Murrue, closed his eyes, inhaled, exhaled. He reopened his eyes. "Thanks," Kira whispered, "I feel better now."

Murrue pursed her lips together. "I think we'd better tell Cagalli," she stated flatly.


	5. Chapter Four

Chapter Four

"The enemy Nazca-class is currently on a course that's skimming the outskirts of PLANT," Irene informed them as Aiden, Riku, Niel, Derlude, and Ayame bounded into the bridge, still in the flight suits. The bridge, composed of Irene as captain, Hitomi as political officer, and the rest of the bridge crew, snapped attentively to their tasks as they pursued the enemy Nazca-class.

"Are we in weapons range?" Aiden asked.

"Not really," Irene shook her head and waved her hand toward the main screen, showing the Nazca-class presenting its flaring thrusters at them, "The Nazca-class got away pretty quick. We can overtake their velocity eventually, but that may take two hours."

"I don't think so," Niel shook his head, "I'm thinking that the captain of the Nazca-class is pushing the reactors over the redline. What do you say, one hundred seventy, one hundred eighty percent?"

"I think just one fifty," Derlude disagreed, "But either way, unless that captain wants a meltdown, he's going to have to slow down soon."

After they had confirmed that the _Scorpio_ had returned to PLANT, the _Kalima_ resumed its pursuit of the enemy Nazca-class. The enemy Nazca-class had retracted all its mobile suits and continued its escape from the _Kalima_. Meanwhile, Aiden had issued the order for all mobile suits to return to the _Kalima_, and continue on standby status.

"It's a ZAFT ship we're talking about," Aiden had explained, "Although it is an enemy that has fired on us, that ship is much more useful to us with its crew alive. For one thing, I want to know what happened so we can explain to the National Defense Committee about why we ordered the _Scorpio_ to retreat."

"But PLANT will scramble reinforcements soon, right?" Riku asked, "I mean, it's a renegade ship and it's just outside their territory."

"That's why I'm hoping the captain of that ship will play smart," Aiden nodded, "They'd better escape, or they'll have a whole attack force against them. And if they escape, it makes it easier for us with less ZAFT interferences. Irene, can you hypothesize their destination?"

"There are only so many places they can go," Irene shrugged, "They can't head for the L4 Cluster; it's no secret that it's where our base is hidden over at Colony Mendel. And Captain Bartfeldt and the _Eternal_ should be launching soon. On the other hand, the Moon belongs to the Earth Alliance, so they can't go there. I speculate maybe Junius Seven, or perhaps the debris field near it."

"I've got some seconds thoughts about that," Aiden frowned, and tapped one of Irene's computer controls and brought up a star chart of the nearby area, "I was just suddenly thinking of something else.

"Go on, tell me," Derlude smirked, "I'm intrigued."

"I'm thinking that they'll head for the moon," Aiden shrugged.

"The Moon?" Riku gaped, "But that's where the Earth Alliance Base is. They'll be shot down before they could lose us! And they're going to jeopardize the peace between PLANT and Earth!"

"The Moon is the one place we can't follow them to," Niel had already caught on to Aiden's explanation, "The guy's clever; he knows that we'll be force to desert him early."

"Desert him early?" Riku frowned. He still didn't get it.

"What happens if we pursue him all the way until we're on the very edge of Earth territory?" Niel tried explaining.

"Then we'll have to stop," Riku shrugged, "But we can catch up with him before that, right?"

"It's a different thing," Aiden continued, "We can't pursue him until we're just outside Earth territory, because if we do that, the Nazca-class will just go directly into Earth territory, and Earth will think it's us that's entering. That ship may be a renegade, but they don't know that. Therefore, the Nazca-class is counting on us to stop our pursuit, so they won't go into the Moon, and we won't get into any trouble. Us following it exactly to the limit forces it to enter Earth territory, and that's something we can't afford."

"If that's the case," Riku crossed his arms, "You're saying we can't catch up to it before it reaches Earth territory. You're saying that they're counting on us to stop the chase early. If that's the case, why don't we sortie and get them? Disable the engines or something? You saw how those mobile suit pilots fly; we can take them on easily."

"Oh," Derlude snickered, "You can do that? I never knew."

"Hey!" Riku snapped back, "Just shut up! I know how to..."

"Enough," Aiden cut them both off, "I don't want too many arguments on this ship. Either way, I want some time to be able to make a decision. We'll have to abandon the chase one thousand five hundred kilometers from the Moon, Irene. Navigations, how long will it take for us to reach that stage?"

"One and a half hours," the navigations officer replied, tapping furiously on his control panel, "Maybe two."

"We don't have that much time," Aiden muttered, "Hitomi, check if we can contact Aprilius One; see what they want to do with this Nazca-class. Irene, I'd hate to take the fun away from us, but contact the Earth section of Ace-Ops, encrypted transmission, codes only. See if they have anyone near for an intercept course."

"I'll check immediately," Hitomi nodded, and quickly bent over her communications suite.

"You do realize that the only Earth forces that can possibly make it in time are those from the Moon, right? Assuming that there _are _our guys on the Moon."

"I'm praying," Aiden admitted, "Just contact them; I don't want the Nazca-class escaping, neither do I want them running into Earth territory. I want the Nazca-class alive, and I'm hoping there will be our people there to intercept."

"Right," Irene replied, and began typing down communications queries.

"I'm not receiving a reply from Aprilius One," Hitomi reported, "I think we're having communications error. I'm not getting a good feedback."

"Good news," Irene reported, "I'm getting a ping feedback from the Moon via our encrypted channel; our guys are hearing us."

"Send them coordinates as test targeting data," Aiden ordered, "I hope they can sortie in time to intercept. And prepare a readied communique to the Earth Alliance, telling them about the renegade ship. I don't think they'll believe us, but we can at least have something for the records."

"Right," Irene replied, and began composing a message.

"We'll have to get to a decision fast," Niel placed his arms at his hips, clearly looking worried, "If that thing reaches anything near the Moon, you know we have to destroy it."

Aiden looked at the fleeing Nazca-class, nodded. "Yeah," Aiden nodded, "That's why I'm praying for a miracle."

* * *

Cagalli stared as Murrue played the recorded voice of Athrun making his statement.

Dressed in purple, Cagalli formally wore the clothes of the Representative of the Orb Union, seated at the office desk that had belonged to Roland Davenport a day ago. The lights in the office illuminated the room brightly, which also shaded some of their harder features. Half an hour after the inauguration ceremony had ended, a grueling three hours in which Cagalli made in speech for five minutes, the rest being occupied by a two hour and fifty-five minute of her staying silent or making awkwardly formal gestures, Kira and Murrue managed to get through security and got to Cagalli. It took several credentials, and some old faces through Orb security who knew exactly who they were, for them to reach Cagalli.

Cagalli stared at Murrue, then at Kira, then at the radio. After several seconds, she moved to the phone, picked it up, and pressed a button. "Hello?" she said into the receiver, "Can someone please request the presence of the ZAFT Senator Leland? I need to speak to him right away. Tell him it's urgent. Thanks." She hung up the phone, turned back around to Kira and Murrue, urgency in her eyes.

"How long ago was this?" Cagalli finally asked.

"Just several hours before the inauguration ceremony began," Kira explained, "We had intercepted this frequency on Murrue's radio. It was a transmission that had been directed at Orb, we're sure of that. If that really was Athrun, he should be in space, as he said. Of course, I'm hoping..."

"We just thought you might want to know," Murrue made it clear first, "But you can't really do anything, as the Representative of Orb."

"Why the hell not can I do anything?" Cagalli yelled, "I'm supposed to be Representative here! That transmission was directed at Orb, which means ZAFT practically sent a lead to my front door. So why the hell not?"

"You cannot jeopardize your neutrality with ZAFT," Murrue explained, "This thing is a ZAFT matter. The best you can do is to tell them something is going on."

"Oh, yeah," Cagalli snarled sarcastically, "So am I supposed to say, 'Hello, is this ZAFT? This is Representative Cagalli Yula Attha of Orb, I just received a transmission here on Orb from space, where I heard my boyfriend Athrun Zala say he was being held captive on one of your Nazca-class ships, the _Lionheart_; do you mind if you send a knight in shining armor to rescue him?' Is that what you want me to say?"

"Yes," Kira said bluntly.

Cagalli glared at him, but dropped her gaze eventually, realizing the futility of the situation. "Athrun..." she muttered.

There was a knock on the doors behind them, and they opened, presenting the ZAFT Senator Leland and his aide, Julius, carrying a suitcase. Cagalli thought Julius looked silly; even though it was early evening, he was still wearing his shades.

"Did you summon me, Representative Cagalli Yula Attha?" Leland asked, all smiles, as he stopped right before Cagalli's desk. He sent two sideway glances at Kira and Murrue, nodded to them in acknowledgment, as he if knew them. Cagalli, for some reason unkown to her, suddenly remembered that this ZAFT senator had made a speech three times longer than her own.

Cagalli stared hard at Leland. "I just received a message from space that was directed at Orb," Cagalli stated, and pressed the play button on Murrue's radio.

"...Zala of ZAFT," Athrun's voice spoke through the radio speakers, "Repeat, this is Athrun Zala of ZAFT. I am currently being held captive aboard a renegade ZAFT Nazca-class battleship, the _Lionheart. _Anyone hearing this transmission, please..." The replay ended in static.

There was a moment of silence, but Leland didn't seem to be at all disturbed. Cagalli continued to glare at Leland.

"What is it Representative Attha would like me to answer?" Leland asked, still smiling.

"What's going on?" Cagalli demanded.

Leland smiled. "Does Representative Attha believe she should meddle in such affairs?" he asked.

"Athrun Zala," Cagalli raged, "was the pilot of the mobile suit Justice, part of the mainstay attack force for the Triple Ship Alliance during the Second Battle of Yakin-Duue. He was our comrade-in-arms, and acknowledged a hero in both Orb and ZAFT. He is personally related to me through this, and I believe I deserve to know."

Leland continued to smile at Cagalli, his expression not changing at all. He merely waved at Julius, who presented the suitcase to Leland. Leland opened the suitcase, which revealed a laptop computer insider. Leland opened it, activated it, and typed in some commands before placing it on Cagalli's office desk, and turning it around so the screen faced her.

"First Lieutenant Athrun Zala works as an analyst for Admiral Orlando Chester of ZAFT," Leland said as Cagalli saw the dossier of Admiral Chester on the screen of the laptop, including his contact number, "If Representative Attha has any questions concerning Athrun Zala, it would be best to contact Admiral Chester rather than to ask me."

Cagalli stared at the dossier, then at Leland, five seconds and counting. Finally, she picked up the phone, and dialed it to PLANT, using the extension that Leland had gave her. She was connected to a deep-voiced man within twenty seconds.

"This is Admiral Orlando Chester," the voice from the other end spoke.

"Good evening, Admiral Orlando Chester," Cagalli spoke firmly into the phone, "This is Representative Cagalli Yula Attha of Orb speaking."

There was a pause at the other end; clearly Cagalli had surprised Chester. "Well," Chester managed to recover, "It's an honor to hear from you, Representative. I was just watching the news a while ago. The inauguration ceremony. I assure you that you are a very lovely young woman on screen. It's a pity I couldn't see you on-site."

"Thank you, Admiral Chester. Formalities aside, it's been a tiring day, and I'd like to get to the point as soon as possible."

"Of course. Speak freely with me; I don't enjoy standing too much on ceremony, especially someone who severely outranks me."

"I'd like to ask of the condition of your subordinate, Athrun Zala."

There was another pause on Chester's end. Chester spoke after several seconds, his voice low. "Representative Attha," Chester said slowly, "I understand your relation with Mr. Zala during the Second Battle of Yakin-Duue. However, might I remind you that this is a ZAFT first lieutenant you're talking about, an analyst that..."

"I just received a transmission here on Orb," Cagalli interrupted Chester, "It was Athrun stating that he was being held captive on a Nazca-class warship called the _Lionheart_. Do you know anything about this?"

Another pause. "No," Chester admitted, "I haven't. Thank you very much for the information, though; we will inform the administration about this. We've been looking for First Lieutenant Zala for a while."

"Why are you looking for him?" Cagalli demanded.

"Representative," Chester sighed, "This is a ZAFT matter..."

"That transmission was being directed at Orb," Cagalli spoke heatedly into the receiver, "For all I know, that transmission was meant for me. I deserve to know what's going on."

"With all due respect to your position," Chester said evenly, "You don't deserve to know. You are a political leader, and your represent Orb, I understand that. However..." there was a pause on Chester's end of the phone, "One moment, please, Representative. I have an incoming call from the Supreme Council. I will have to put you on hold; I will be back shortly." There was silence from his end of the phone. Seconds passed, as Kira and Murrue stared at Cagalli anxiously, while Leland and Julius looked relatively relaxed. Cagalli looked at Kira again; Kira was moving his lips, mouthing something to her. Cagalli frowned; she wasn't good at reading lips, but she could've swore Kira was trying to said "Lacus".

Chester returned to the phone after a minute. "I apologize for the wait, Representative," Chester's voice was florid, "Ironically, I was just contacted by Senator Lacus Clyne of the Supreme Council. She's asking me to divulge some information to you concerning what we currently know about his condition. Considering that she outranks me many times over, I guess I can't complain."

Cagalli shot a look at Kira, gave him a quick smile. So, Kira had been trying to say that he had already contacted Lacus before he had met with Cagalli. He figured that a friend in a high place may be of great help. "God bless you," Cagalli mouthed Kira's way.

"Please tell me, Admiral," Cagalli nodded.

"You are aware that General Arthur Cromwell had been assassinated this morning at Washington, D.C., aren't you?" Chester asked.

"Yes, I've heard the news," Cagalli replied.

"It's quite a surprise to us all," Chester admitted, "Although negotiations with PLANT haven't been exactly the Earth Alliance's best card up their sleeve, General Cromwell was perhaps the only high-ranking officer of the Atlantic Federation not with Blue Cosmos. And as Blue Cosmos has basically deteriorated after the Second Battle of Yakin-Duue, we didn't expect anything from their direction. But now, General Cromwell is dead, suspected of being assassinated by Blue Cosmos activists."

"Yes, I've heard the speculations."

"The funny thing is that no one ever expected this. No one expected the respected general to die, neither did anyone expect Blue Cosmos to suddenly show up. This includes analysts on Earth and here at PLANT. But one person saw it coming."

"Athrun..." Cagalli whispered.

"Yes," Chester agreed, "Athrun Zala. He was the only one who saw the assassination coming. He filed it in a report three months ago; we all thought he was a lunatic. The report went through administration and somehow got lost. It also analyzed every aspect after the assassination, but no one remembers what he had written, because we pretty much regarded it as bullshit after we found out he had written that Cromwell would be assassinated by Blue Cosmos. But when we received the news this evening, we knew we needed Athrun back, with another copy of his report. Or, if he didn't have the report, he'd remember what he had written and tell us the next play in the book. This is a war of information right now, Representative, I'm sure you understand; although we're not formally at war, trying to keep the peace is a war itself."

"I know," Cagalli said, but her voice sounded dazed; she was having a hard time keeping up and accepting what she was hearing.

"If we know what's coming up, we can make the right moves to prevent a second war. We then launched a silent operation to get Athrun back; he had applied for a leave, and we wanted as little people to know about what's going on as possible. We made it seem like a war operation; Athrun was not contacted by phone, but rather, we had a squad to escort him over. But we couldn't find him, which means we don't have the information, which means we can't make the next move. And now, you're telling me that Athrun had sent a transmission to Orb saying he is being held captive aboard the Nazca-class _Lionheart_."

"That's right," Cagalli nodded.

Chester sighed. "Look, Representative," he said, "This concerns my field as well, so I can assure that I have told you everything I know. And that I will do everything in my power to find First Lieutenant Zala."

"I understand," Cagalli whispered, "Thank you, Admiral." She hung up the phone, and silence followed. She seemed weary, shocked, and unbelieving at the same time.

Finally, Leland spoke up. "He is a lovely admiral, isn't he?" he asked, smiling.

"I have to get the next shuttle to PLANT," Cagalli breathed, "Hurry and find Athrun. I can't..."

"No," Murrue said flatly.

Cagalli turned to Murrue, staring.

"You can't leave Orb," Murrue made it clear, "You're Representative now. You have your responsibilities here. You can't leave Orb just after you are inaugurated as Representative. And there is no way you can leave Orb without making a controversy."

"But..." Cagalli protested.

"Leave this to our fleet," Leland smiled, standing up as he prepared to leave, "I can assure you that our fleet, under the leadership of Admiral Chester, will do its utmost to recover Athrun Zala. If you will excuse me, now." Leland packed up his suitcase, and handed it over to Julius. The two of them walked to the door, leaving. But as Senator Leland disappeared behind the door, Julius stopped right at the door, and turned around to face Cagalli. Kira, Cagalli, and Murrue stared at Julius.

"Senator Leland will be leaving tonight at nine, Orb standard time, on the next shuttle to PLANT," Julius said in a matter-of-fact manner, "If you can arrange a private ride to the spaceport, I can process another identification to allow you to pass as part of senator's envoy. I will help you cover your identity."

Murrue seemed to be in protest. "But people will notice that the Representative is gone..." she started.

"You will need to contact several people close to you," Julius said, "Tell them where you're going. And help them maintain the illusion that you are currently sick, your condition isn't serious, and you should be out of the hospital shortly. I will make a public statement that I saw you in the hospital this evening. Your men will cover for you. Besides, you've just been inaugurated, and the risks of people suspecting anything will be scarce."

"But..." Murrue didn't look convinced, "Won't you get in trouble? Won't you get in trouble with Senator..."

"Senator Leland instructed me to tell you what to do," Julius gave a light-tipped smile, "He just can't be seen making such a statement. Kira Yamato and Murrue Ramius, you are welcome to come along as well. Those words simply can't come out of Senator Leland's mouth."

Kira and Murrue seemed surprised, realizing that Julius knew them by name. Somehow, this Julius was much sharper than he seemed to be.

"I hope to see you aboard the flight soon," Julius gave a salute, and quickly left through the door, leaving Kira, Cagalli, and Murrue bewildered.


	6. Chapter Five

Note: Considering the direction I'm taking with this story, it's completely possible for me to link this with Gundam Seed Destiny, except that the series isn't finished, and I've only watched so many episodes, so there'll probably be a hole in the plot somewhere along the story if I try to link it with Destiny, and that's really against my style. So this is essentially an alternate universe to Gundam Seed.

Also, all of you may have noticed, but I can no longer update as fast as I did with the first four chapters. It goes against my work schedule. I hope you all understand.

The three mobile suits here, by the way, have their names from "Ace Combat 05: The Unsung War". The Kestrel, Blizzard, and Vulture are Osean aircraft carriers from the game (the Blizzard and the Vulture are sunk early by a ballistic missile fired from the submarine Scinfaxi, while the Kestrel is eventually sunk by a submarine near the end of the game).

Chapter Five

"A foolish move at best, Athrun Zala," Crawford smiled as he floated in his private quarters, Athrun glaring at him at the other side, "The message you sent won't be intercepted by anyone except my own forces down in Orb."

Athrun gritted his teeth as he faced his captor, who was currently seemingly at ease and fleeing from pursuing ZAFT forces. Crawford's communications officer had picked up the transmission being relayed to Orb and Crawford must've cut it off from the bridge. Whether Crawford was telling the truth, that he had forces in Orb and that the message was heard by no one except them, Athrun didn't know.

"You sure about that?" Athrun asked.

"Positive," Crawford continued to smile, "It's an encrypted channel that is designed to be decrypted by only one group, a group under my influence. I have to admit, Athrun, that your actions of resistance don't quite puzzle me, but I must insist that you stop. No one's here to harm you."

"No one's here to harm me?" Athrun nearly scoffed, "You intend to wipe out the Naturals, don't you?"

"That is..." Crawford paused, then corrected, "That _was_ your father's dream. But it's our dream now."

"The war is over!" Athrun bellowed, "We don't need to..."

"And will the weapons of the Earth Alliance be aimed in anywhere but our direction?" Crawford demanded, "The enmity between Coordinators and Naturals will always exist. I'm not implying that Naturals are inferior to Coordinators, or they are evil and spineless, but I'm a Coordinator. We're all Coordinators. In the end, we really only have one choice."

Athrun knew it wasn't any use trying to convince Crawford; even Athrun knew the scars of hate between Coordinators and Naturals ran deeper than Athrun could imagine. He simply only had one question to ask.

"What do you want of me?" Athrun demanded.

"Simple," Crawford smiled, "You are the only remaining blood relative of our former Chairman Patrick Zala. But Patrick Zala died on the Genesis during the Second Battle of Yakin-Duue. Therefore, you, as a Zala, must lead us."

Athrun gaped at Crawford, in absolutely disbelief. "Do you even think, for a moment," Athrun asked, "that I would agree?"

"No," Crawford shrugged, "I didn't think you'd agree."

"Then why do you even bother?"

"I don't know," Crawford admitted, smiling, "But somehow, we all felt you were our rallying point. No one really fits the job, really."

Athrun glared at Crawford. "You're lying," he whispered.

"Indeed," Crawford laughed, "It doesn't take an idiot to figure that one out." Crawford floated over to his computer, seated himself as he activated another program.

"The truth," Crawford said as he opened a text document, and Athrun immediately saw it was one addressed to Crawford from Patrick Zala, "is that your father asked me to take care of you in the case something unfortunate happened to him. He did so after you fled PLANT when you did not return with Justice, and hoped someday you may come to understand his dream..." Crawford stared at Athrun seriously, his smile gone, "He loved you dearly, Athrun. Even after you ran away from him. And he was my friend and superior. I find that I fulfill a promise and a hope, both belonging to your father. Like it or not, I am essentially your guardian..." the smile returned to his lips, "and your subordinate."

"Fine, then," Athrun snapped, "If you're my subordinate, I demand you stop this ship immediately."

Crawford laughed. "Don't be immature, Athrun," Crawford smiled, "You know that's an order I will not fulfill for you. I don't know how to convince you, Athrun, I only know I must. That is why..." Crawford was suddenly interrupted by a beeping on his computer. He clicked a button, and he was connected to the bridge.

"Go on ahead," Crawford spoke into the microphone.

"Sir," a voice replied, "You requested that I inform you when we approach the Moon..."

"Yes, of course," Crawford nodded, "Thank you, lieutenant; I'll be on the bridge momentarily."

Athrun stared at Crawford as Crawford disconnected the call. "You're going toward the Moon?" he gaped, "Trespass Earth territory?"

"There are several sharks following us at the moment," Crawford explained with a shrug as he floated over to the exit of his quarters, "This is the only way to shake them off. Now, Athrun, I expect you to be a good boy and stay in this room. I'm locking the door, although I hope it will not be necessary in the future." With that, he opened the door, and flew out, locked it behind him, leaving Athrun in the room to contemplate the words Crawford had voiced, hope something happens to stop the ship from trespassing OMNI territory, and piece together something eventually.

* * *

"This isn't fair!" sixteen year old Second Lieutenant Elizabeth Chance complained as she floated through the hangar bay, "Why do _I_ have to carry the jamming equipment? Why do_ I_ have to sacrifice thruster three so _I_ carry the jamming equipment? Why can't Christopher do it?"

Her superior, seventeen year old First Lieutenant Anthony Marks, sighed, while the other seventeen Second Lieutenant Christopher Wagner remain relatively composed and quiet.

"Alright, look,"Anthony sighed as he shot a glare at Elizabeth, "_You_ have to carry the jamming equipment because Vulture has all the heavy weaponry, and heavy weaponry is not something we need for this fight. _You_ have to carry the jamming equipment, because both Christopher and I need speed in this fight, and I need you to keep the Nazca-class away from the Moon by staying there and firing. And _you_ have to carry the jamming equipment because we hate you."

Christopher deigned to speak. "I don't hate..." Christopher started.

"I know you don't," Anthony interrupted, "I just need her to shut up."

Floating through the main hangar bay on the Earth Lunar Base, Anthony, Elizabeth, and Christopher, officially part of the 23rd Independent Squadron, and secretly part of the Ace-Ops, floated through the massive activity of hangar crews and other pilots busy with their tasks. While no one here on the Lunar Base knew about the approaching Nazca-class, Anthony had received an encrypted message from Aiden Renguard of ZAFT, a message telling him exactly what was going on. Thus, under Anthony's orders, they were going to scramble.

"It's not like you guys ever wait for me," Elizabeth continued to whine, "You always go charging ahead with thrusters on full, and then you complain that I'm too slow, and..."

"Enough!" Anthony sighed, "God, do you _ever_ shut up? If you keep talking, I'm going to filter your COM channel when I get into Kestrel."

The youngest member of the squad, Elizabeth Chance was a sweet and likable girl, that is, if she got her way. If not, she was a whiny and annoying girl who had a habit of complaining. Even so, however, she was an exceptional pilot who had a liking for large explosions and fireworks, which basically explains her choice weapons on her mobile suit Vulture.

Meanwhile, Christopher Wagner was a bit too quiet to be desired. He never talked unless there was something to be mentioned or something to be corrected, and even when he answered a question, he used as little words as possible. However, his piloting skills were without question; Anthony personally watched Christopher shoot down forty Ginns in a single minute during the Second Battle of Yakin-Duue.

Elizabeth and Christopher split off from Anthony as Anthony floated toward his own mobile suit, Kestrel. Maneuvering through the airlock, he quickly rotated himself into the cockpit seat and strapped himself in. The HUD of the Kestrel came to life, as the monitor showed the interior of the hangar, full of capital ships, weapons, mobile suits, and repair crews.

"This is First Lieutenant Anthony Marks of the 23rd Independent Squad to hangar control," Anthony stated in a clear voice into the microphone, "I'm taking my squad out for a test flight; please acknowledge."

Anthony could've told hangar control to flick their dicks and they wouldn't complain. The high brass at here at OMNI dotted on their success story, the 23rd Independent Squad, and no one liked to get in trouble with the upper echelons.

"Acknowledged, 23rd Independent Squad," hangar control replied, "You are clear for takeoff. Opening overhead gates. Proceed at your discretion." The hatches above Kestrel, a horizontal path from the underground hangar to the surface, opened, revealing the black space above.

"Alright," Anthony quipped into the private channel used exclusively by the 23rd Independent Squad that no one but a few select insiders knew about, and they weren't around at the moment, "Remember, maintain radio silence until my orders. I know our channels are encrypted, but..."

"Yeah, yeah, I know," Elizabeth sighed, as if she had heard this lecture somewhere near a billion times, "If someone does listen in, we don't want them to know who's yapping."

"Something intelligent comes out of her mouth, for once," Anthony chuckled and pressed the phase shift button; the Kestrel turned dark green as the phase shift armor activated.

"Actually..." Christopher started.

"Yes, I know," Anthony sighed, "She has made more than one intelligent mark before; I was exaggerating, I'm sorry." Anthony made a quick reminder to himself not to interrupt Christopher next time, and allow him to talk more frequently.

"Anthony Marks," Anthony announced to hangar control, "Kestrel, launching!"

Kestrel quickly ignited its thrusters, and blasted upward. The walls rushed around him as he accelerated past it, and before he knew it, he was flying past the surface of the moon, soaring into space. Below him, Elizabeth and Christopher also launched, black Vulture and blue Blizzard. They quickly flew into formation with Anthony and Christopher ahead, and Elizabeth trailing behind in a reverse delta formation.

"Elizabeth," Anthony ordered, "Remember to activate jamming equipment in five minutes."

"Five minutes, roger," Elizabeth replied.

"The Moon shouldn't have detected that Nazca-class yet," Anthony announced, "But they will in fifteen, maybe ten minutes. So we need to get there, double-time. The ZAFT guys are already doing their best, so we'd better start kicking ass as well."

"Roger," Elizabeth replied gleefully.

"Roger," Christopher agreed quietly.

The three mobile suits sliced through the void of space.

* * *

Athena jetted ahead out of the hangar and lurched to the left; just in time. The enemy GuAIZ deployed from the Nazca-class had fired at the hangar entrance, intending to hit any mobile suit that attempted to fly out. The shot barely struck the hangar itself, and Riku maneuvered Athena around, firing his beam rifle at the GuAIZ; it struck the left arm, leaving the GuAIZ damaged, but not necessarily unarmed and crippled. Until Aiden passed the order, Riku wasn't about to take matters into his own hands.

From behind him, Apollo and Vulcan also launched from the _Kalima's_ two hangars, followed closely by Anubis and Loki. With the enemy Nazca-class closing just several hundred kilometers from Earth territory, Aiden had announced that it was time to take drastic measures before the ultimate price was paid. But he hadn't exactly elaborated on their exact battle strategy.

The enemy Nazca-class had shown signs of deceleration, or, at least, a stop of redlining its reactor. The _Kalima_ had caught up, but they were still seven minutes away from reasonable weapons range, which meant the more agile mobile suits were going to have to take the game into their own hands and stop the enemy Nazca-class, destroy it if they have to.

"Rules of engagement?" Derlude sang into the COM channel as he did a fancy somersault with Vulcan, dodging a trio of GuAIZs at the same time.

"They're going to far," Aiden muttered, "Ignore the mobile suits for now, and concentrate on the enemy Nazca-class' engines. Disable all but one, and we'll see if the captain of that ship decides to decelerate away from Earth territory. The moment the Moon sends a warning, I want that Nazca-class destroyed."

"Roger," Derlude nodded, "I'll get it done." He rushed on ahead before Aiden could respond, and fired a volley of chain gun fire, clearing a path between him and the enemy Nazca-class. Jetting forward, he fired his shotgun at the engines of the Nazca-class; the Nazca-class dodged to port, but the shot effectively destroyed its starboard engine.

"Derlude," Aiden snapped, "Don't stray out too far."

"Oh, don't bother," Derlude laughed, "Even Riku isn't about to be shot down by any of these GuAIZs."

Aiden knew he was right. All of the Ace-Ops had been handpicked for their extraordinary skills in battle, and knew that every member of the Ace-Ops, even the inexperienced Riku, could take on an army of mobile suits by themselves. Their skills were almost inhuman, which was why the Earth, ZAFT, and Orb always played tango to get their hands on the Ace-Ops. While Hitomi always had problems refusing their "gracious offers", Aiden easily helped her with that.

"Disabling port engines," Ayame announced as she aimed Loki's sniper rifle, and fired. The beam sliced across space, managing to destroy one of a GuAIZ's leg, and effectively tore through the port engine; it exploded in a neat show of fireworks.

"I must inform that we still have about three minutes before the Nazca-class' velocity cannot be stopped, and will inevitably enter Earth territory," Niel informed, a slight edge in his voice, "After three minutes, even if it rotates one hundred and eighty degrees and redline their reactor, they won't be able to stop right at their front door."

"Is that an estimate?" Derlude laughed, "Hey, Irene! How long do we have before that Nazca-class is in the fritz?"

"Computer calculates that inevitable entry into Earth territory is three minutes," Irene informed aboard the _Kalima_.

"You'd better not tell me you did the math in your head!" Derlude yelped at Niel, thoroughly amazed at his calculations. He circled in front the enemy Nazca-class, as if trying to stop the ship physically.

"This is the 23rd Independent Squad," a new voice suddenly joined the COM channel, "Ace-Ops, do you read me? We should be appearing on your radar screen."

"This is Aiden Renguard," Aiden quickly replied as he looked at one of his overhead monitors and saw three extra mobile suits approaching from the Moon, "Anthony, it's about time you got here."

"Sorry," Anthony chuckled, "Was I late?"

"Right on time, if you ask me," Niel hissed, "We don't have that much time. What's the situation at the Moon base right now?"

"I don't know," Anthony replied, stopping Kestrel right beside Vulcan in front of the enemy Nazca-class while Blizzard and Vulture sped on ahead to isolate the ship from their mobile suits, "They aren't put on high alert yet, but I bet they've already got a big Nazca-class on their screens. I've brought a jammer to interfere with the Moon trying to track our actions via radar, so they can only try to get a visual on us. But they're definitely going to see the Nazca-class on the big screen."

Kestrel was a medium-strike mobile suit, carrying an assault rifle that fired actual rounds, as Anthony disliked energy weapons, saying it lacked the "feel" of the recoil. It also fired spears designed to pierce battleship armor and detonate afterwards.

Meanwhile, Blizzard was a fast-strike mobile suit, a blue blitz that carried a six-gun beam system which fired beams at a rapid rate from his shoulders, arms, and torso, which allowed it to destroy multiple enemies in considerable ease.

Lastly, Vulture was a heavy-strike model, built with a massive multi-missile launching system on its shoulder that carried warheads meant for battleships, and an energy cannon capable of firing a single concentrated beam or a spread shot.

"We'll have to stall for time," Aiden muttered, watching Riku fire a rain of missiles from Athena, striking three GuAIZs at a time, "Take care of the mobile suits first. We'll..."

"Aiden," Hitomi's voice suddenly informed him from the _Kalima_, "I'm receiving a message incoming from the Haven back at PLANT. They're looking for the one in charge, and I thought you might want to..."

"Patch it through," Aiden ordered, waited three seconds, then spoke in the microphone, "This is Aiden Renguard of the Peace Project. Is this the Haven?"

"First Lieutenant Aiden Renguard," an unfamiliar voice snapped through the COM channel, "This is Admiral Orlando Chester of ZAFT. You are being ordered to cease fire on the Nazca-class immediately."

Aiden recognized Admiral Orlando Chester, and recalled his various campaigns against the Earth Alliance in space. He was a respected strategist, but now he seemed to focus more on political maneuvers than military ones.

"Ordered?" Aiden seemed to sound amused, "The last time I checked, admiral, not even the National Defense Committee could order Hitomi Varyvae around, not when it's the Peace Project we're talking about. That Nazca-class is about to enter Earth territory and jeopardize the peace between PLANT and Earth. If we don't destroy it, you can kiss peace goodbye. And you know that the Zala Faction and Blue Cosmos are dying to settle their trigger fingers on a gun."

"That Nazca-class is the _Lionheart_, and is commanded by Admiral Irwin Crawford," Chester growled, "You don't not have permission to fire on an admiral, first lieutenant."

"I'm only concerned about peace, admiral," Aiden said somewhat harshly, "In case you're wondering, I'm very glad that inventory and personnel has finally heeded to our request to check up which ship it was and who's commanding it; however, hours is high time to keep us waiting. Also, Admiral Crawford has fired on the Nazca-class _Scorpio_, commanded by Captain Yzak Jule, and is now headed for Earth territory. For all I care, Admiral Crawford might as well be defecting. Any junior officer now has permission to shoot him down, per military law, article three, paragraph five."

"I forbid it!" Chester bellowed, "You're being ordered to cease fire immediately!"

"And I must remind you," Aiden started, paused as he dodged a shot from a GuAIZ, returned fire, then continued as he watched the GuAIZ detonate into a ball of fire, "that I'm part of the Peace Project. With all due respect to your rank, you're not quite allowed to order me around. My actions will prevail in any military court you throw me into, even if its one on Earth where Blue Cosmos is dying to get their hands on a Coordinator corpse, and you know it."

Chester paused, seemingly completely frustrated, and finally added, "There's a hostage on that ship."

"Hostage?" Aiden sounded surprised, "And who might that be?"

"You'll be informed on a need-to-know basis, First Lieutenant Renguard," Chester scowled.

"Very well," Aiden shrugged and sped toward the _Lionheart_, dodging the incoming GuAIZs, leaving them for Riku and Ayame to finish off, "If you insist that I be informed later, I will have no choice but to destroy the _Lionheart_, as the danger of peace collapsing far outweighs the possible value of this one hostage."

"You are not...!" Chester started angrily.

"Oh, yes I am allowed to fire on a hostage," Aiden interrupted Chester, tiring of his attempted orders, "Political stability comes before concerns for our own people, admiral, you know that very well. Article one, paragraph seventeen. Unless that someone's important, I will carry on the attack."

"One minute left," Niel informed Aiden, and made sure it was transmitted on a public channel to make Chester nervous, "We don't have anymore time left, Aiden."

"Understood," Aiden said to Niel, "Destroy it." However, he quickly typed several queries on his computer, sending a series of pings to the Ace-Ops in the form of Morse code. _Wait until the last second; I want to see what Admiral Chester says. Give me a ping if you understand._

Seven pings from the remainder of the Ace-Ops showed up on his radar screen. Good, the Ace-Ops acknowledged his orders.

"First Lieutenant Renguard!" Chester practically screamed.

"I apologize, admiral," Aiden shrugged, "But I have my orders and my priorities to follow. I must bid you a good day."

"Look," Chester began to sound desperate, "My orders came from the National Defense Committee. They are demanding that you cease fire."

"First, the National Defense Committee has no authority over us," Aiden started, "Second, the Committee should've contacted us themselves."

"The hostage on board the _Lionheart_ is Athrun Zala," Chester explained hurriedly, "He's under my division; the National Defense Committee wanted me to represent them."

"What's compelling their decision?" Aiden demanded.

"You're informed..."

"Admiral," Aiden sighed, "I don't have to repeat my words over and over again."

Chester paused, obviously struggling to come up with a good response, finally said, "Athrun Zala is politically sensitive. The National Defense Committee wants him alive, I want him alive, and now Representative Cagalli Yula Attha of Orb is sticking her nose into the matter. If you destroy the _Lionheart_ now, we risk war with _both_ Earth and Orb."

Aiden knew that Chester was exaggerating, but he also knew Chester wasn't too far off the mark. Having Senator Leland help place Cagalli into the leadership position of Orb had its advantages, but it also had chances of backfire, chances as the one which was appearing before them at the moment. However, it wasn't one they hadn't anticipated; unfortunately, the only effective countermeasure to this move was to cease fire.

"Fine," Aiden muttered, "All units, cease fire. Admiral, I'm letting the _Lionheart_ go. If we pursue it any further, it'll run into Earth territory for sure."

"Good," Chester sighed, sounding relieved, paused, then added, with an unpleasant tone, "Thank you."

"Don't thank me, admiral," Aiden growled, "If the outcome turns sour here, I'll be sure to direct all the blame in your direction." Aiden terminated the channel between him and Chester, and sighed. Things were beginning to spiral out of control. He only hoped that Leland had taken the actions that the both of them had devised earlier.

"Everyone catch that last transmission?" Aiden asked, "Irene, decelerate the _Kalima_ and put it in reverse. Tell the _Lionheart_ we're willing to cut pursuit if it turns away from Earth territory now."

"Message sent," Irene reported, "I already had that message prepared, and was just praying you give that order."

"I'll try to keep the Earth forces at bay," Anthony said, "But it's not going to work if that Nazca-class continues to plunge its way toward the Moon."

"It'll turn away," Aiden said in a tone as if it was not a prayer or a guess, but an order that the _Lionheart_ had better obey, "They're either going to flee, or be blown apart by Earth and us."

"But the hostage," Hitomi pointed out, worried laced in her voice, "Won't he...?"

"That's exactly why he'll turn away," Aiden whispered, but no one really understood what he said, "I want everyone to assume a crane formation between the Moon and the _Lionheart_. Afterwards, everyone will rendezvous back at the _Kalima_, where we'll discuss our next strategy."

"That won't be necessary," Niel informed, "The _Lionheart_ is turning away."

Aiden looked at the _Lionheart_, and realized that it was turning itself to port, fleeing toward god-knows-where. It lumbered away with only one engine intact, moving off at a slow speed, but Aiden quickly saw that the _Lionheart_ barely scraped OMNI territory; there were going to be heated questions directed at ZAFT, but the Earth Alliance wouldn't risk war over the situation. And most likely, Earth battleships weren't about to be scrambled after the _Lionheart_.

"Irene..." Aiden started.

"I know," Irene interrupted, "Calculating the _Lionheart's_ trajectory..." Irene paused, then whispered in awe, "It's headed for Junius Seven."

Aiden stared at the _Lionheart_ as it lumbered away. Licking his lips, he gave his next orders in lightning-quick succession.

"All mobile suits, return to the _Kalima_," Aiden ordered, "Anthony, I don't care what you have to tell the Moon, just say you're going to have to be away from a while. Irene, plot a subtle course after the _Lionheart_, keep after it at a safe distance. No messages to PLANT as to what happened here, and ignore all Earth communiques. And be prepared for an infiltration."


	7. Chapter Six

Chapter Six

"You were not, repeat, were not given orders to leave the area!" the port captain raged as he engaged in a shoutmatch with Yzak in the control room, leaving the crew of the control room imminently impressed.

"Yes, I was!" Yzak blasted back, his face twisted in anger, "I had orders from the National Defense Committee!"

"I did not receive such orders," the port captain sniffed stiffly.

"I received them from the 8492nd Squad and the battleship _Kaliea_," Yzak pressed.

"And I've told you, there is not 8492nd Squad in our entire armed forces, and the identification code one-nine-eight-two-delta simply gives me a classified directive, and that doesn't explain anything. If the Defense Committee wanted you out of there, they would've told you directly instead of sending the message through a squad that doesn't exist. You retreat from a battlefield without orders, Captain Jule; that is a very heavy crime, do you know that?"

"Hell yes!" Yzak flared, "But my ship was compromised, and I was given orders..."

"Those orders weren't valid!" the port captain fought back, suddenly interrupted by the opening of the door leading to the control room. A figure familiar to Yzak stood at the doorway. Tanned skin, blond hair, wearing his red uniform.

"Captain Dearka Elsmann," the figure snapped a salute as he entered, "I bring a message from the National Defense Committee to the port captain."

"Dearka!" Yzak exclaimed, surprised at seeing his friend here. After the Second Battle of Yakin-Duue, Dearka, who had defected to the Clyne Faction, and appeared and disappeared so frequently that no one really knew what he was up to. Yzak figured that he was hiding from those who wanted to press charges against him for running from PLANT; that, and his own father, who might be furious with his son defecting to the Clyne Faction. Officially, he was a captain of a squad, not exactly a battleship, but his involvement in ZAFT internal affairs were so infrequent that it didn't really matter if Dearka was given a rank.

"At ease, captain," the port captain returned the salute, "The message...?"

Dearka stepped up to the port captain, and handed him a disc that he had in his hand. The port captain inserted it into a computer next to him; a text message sprawled through the screen as the port captain scanned through the information. Finally, he sighed, ejected the disc, returned it to its case, and returned the disc to Dearka, saluted, and turned to Yzak.

"Captain Yzak Jule," the port captain sighed, looking at Yzak warily, "The National Defense Committee confirms that they have ordered your retreat from the battlefield during the events of yesterday evening; all charges against you are to be dropped. I suggest your return to your ship, captain."

Yzak opened his mouth to ask what's going on, but Dearka nudged him slightly in the back. Yzak stared at Dearka for a moment, then back at the port captain, then scowled as he pushed himself out of the control room, Dearka following close behind.

"What's the meaning of this?" Yzak demanded flatly as soon as the two of them entered the elevator that would take them to the docking terminals that led to the _Scorpio_, "For heaven's sake, where the hell have you been these days? Why did _you_ deliver the message from the National Defense Committee? And what the hell is going on?"

Dearka whistled, gave a smirk. "That's quite a mouthful of questions, Captain Yzak Jule," he smiled.

"Was I supposed to expect to be mocked?" Yzak demanded harshly.

Dearka mixed a laugh and a sigh together. "You haven't changed at all, Yzak." The elevator doors opened, and Dearka pushed himself out of the elevator, Yzak following closely.

"I've been busy these days," Dearka admitted as they floated down the hallway that led to the _Scorpio_, "ZAFT doesn't trust me, the Supreme Council shuns me, or, should I say, I shun the Supreme Council, and I'm not that desperate to start fighting for Earth. Where the hell was I going to start, Yzak? Orb? Peace Project? Or am I just to spend the rest of my days quietly?"

"Let's cut the chase," Yzak sighed, returning the salute of two ZAFT guards who floated past.

"I'm working privately under Chairwoman Eileen Canaver and Lacus Clyne," Dearka admitted, "I'm not supposed to be telling you that, but I never liked playing by the rules. Ironically, neither do you. But that isn't even the kicker. The kicker is that the National Defense Committee didn't order you to retreat. They never issued the order."

Yzak was incredulous. "_What_?" was all he managed, then added, "But the message you carried, the disc..." he glared at Dearka, "Don't tell me it was a fake!"

"No, it was authentic," Dearka explained hurriedly, "The National Defense Committee created that message for the sake of saving your ass. And also for the sake of having me join you on the _Scorpio_."

Yzak stated the obvious. "I don't understand."

"I didn't expect you to," Dearka shrugged, "But there are several facts I'm aware of. One, Chairwoman Canaver and Senator Clyne are wary of your current situation, and wanted me to get your ass of the sling. Two, we had to bribe, I repeat, bribe the National Defense Committee into lying that they gave such orders."

"_Bribe_?" Yzak echoed. He couldn't believe what he was hearing.

"Yes," Dearka nodded as the both of them entered the _Scorpio_, "They want to save your ass, but at the same time, they want the save the asses of those who gave you the order to retreat. Oh, and three, we're both on active duty on the _Scorpio_ now, because the Supreme Council just gave us, yes, us a new assignment."

Yzak waited as Dearka paused. "Well?"

Dearka smirked once more. "We're given the duty to escort Representative Cagalli Yula Attha and her entourage to a familiar place called Colony Mendel. Fun, huh?"

* * *

"Welcome to PLANT, Representative Cagalli Yula Attha," Leland was all smiles as he guided Cagalli, Kira, and Murrue through the spaceport terminal with an armed escort around them, "I understand that it is Representative Attha's second time here? I do remember that Representative Attha was present when PLANT and the Earth Alliance signed the ceasefire here on PLANT."

Julius led the escort as he looked cautiously around, instructing guard to keep post and stay in strategic locations and vantage points. Although Leland was relatively relaxed, Julius' cautiousness spoke volumes; there was something unstable going on at PLANT, and Cagalli somehow felt that Leland didn't want her to become part of it.

"Security is abnormally tight here," Murrue noted, looking around at the increased security, "What's going on?"

"Yesterday evening," Leland explained, "A renegade ship bypassed our escort here at PLANT. But not to worry; we have the best of the best pursuing them right now. I assume I'll receive a pleasant report on my desk today..." Leland gestured to the hangar elevator, "Please, Representative Attha. And Ms. Murrue Ramius and Mr. Kira Yamato as well. Be careful; halfway through our ride, there will be artificial gravity. We've recently replaced the rotation system of PLANT with an artificial gravity system. Our ships will be installed with them soon."

They moved into the elevator and seated themselves in the circular capsule; it sped down through the tracks like a lightning bolt. The escort remained vigilant; no one was lax with Julius supervising them.

"What are we going to do with the Athrun situation?" Cagalli asked as she turned toward Leland.

"First," Leland smiled, facing Cagalli, "I will have to ask Representative Attha if she has taken care of matters back at Orb."

Cagalli paused. "I have..." she said slowly, "taken measures with some of my trusted aides. They'll know what to do."

"So PLANT won't be burdened with unnecessary political upheaval?" Leland continued to smile.

"What is that supposed to mean?" Cagalli asked sharply, very close to taking offense.

"It means," Leland explained, "that if Representative Attha is discovered missing, Representative Attha will have to report to Orb that she is fine to maintain political stability domestically. However, this will only ignite more flames, when people discover that Representative Attha is on an unlogged visit to PLANT. PLANT is now responsible for Representative Attha's safety; we wish to do our jobs well, but only if we are assured that Representative Attha has taken care of matters on her side."

Leland was courteous, Cagalli was going to give him that. She did, however, find his habit of referring to someone in the third-person quite irritating.

"I've taken care of things on my side," Cagalli emphasized, "Now please tell me what we are going to do about the Athrun situation. Have you learned anything about him?"

"Why, yes," Leland replied, "Information is processed from Hitomi Varyvae to selected contacts, contacts that inform the Supreme Council on command. Senator Lacus Clyne has been most generous in revealing aspects of the situation to me, and allowing me to inform Representative Attha."

"Lacus," Kira whispered, asked Leland, "Will we be seeing her?"

"I'm afraid chances of that are quite low," Leland answered, "At any rate, we are informed that Athrun Zala is currently being held on board the renegade Nazca-class, the _Lionheart_, commanded by Admiral Irwin Crawford. The Peace Project is currently following it, but I am unsure of what measures they are taking at the moment."

Cagalli found the situation startling; things were unfolding faster than she had thought. She wanted to concern herself with Athrun for the rest of the day, wanted to understand what's going on, but things would be so much easier if she could get in contact with Lacus, have a more organized report with a friend she could trust.

"While I'm here at PLANT," Cagalli told Leland, "I'd like to arrange an appointment with Senator Clyne."

"I will convey that to Senator Clyne," Leland agreed, "But chances that she will be able to accept are low; she is especially busy today, and I am to put Representative Attha on board the _Scorpio_ to Colony Mendel."

"Colony Mendel?" Cagalli frowned, not understanding Leland's motives, but also suddenly realizing that Leland was not eager to explain to Cagalli why she was not able to meet with Lacus, "Why Colony Mendel?" Cagalli noticed that Kira tensed; Cagalli knew that Kira went through something there, although Kira wouldn't tell Cagalli what it was, or admit that he had gone through anything there.

"Because that's where Andrew Bartfeldt of the Peace Project is stationed," Leland smiled, "I pride myself on being the only senator on good terms with the Peace Project. Well, one of them, anyways. At any rate, it is extremely likely that he will be deployed soon to assist the _Kaliea_, the ship pursuing the _Lionheart_ and Athrun Zala at the moment."

"One question," Cagalli asked, her eyes sharp and staring into Leland's eyes, trying to find out if Leland was lying to her or not, "What's keeping Senator Clyne? Why have things become so erratic at PLANT? The extra security measures? What's going on?"

Leland made the first forced smile that Cagalli had ever seen from the pleasant senator as his eyes turned intense, and Cagalli suddenly realized that she probably didn't want to hear what Leland was about to tell her.

"Because Earth has just declared war on PLANT, Representative Attha."

* * *

"So, what should we do?" Derlude demanded, in his ZAFT uniform, looking at Aiden with impatience. The Peace Project didn't have their own uniforms, so they all wore whatever clothes they had; ZAFT uniforms, formal wear, and casual clothes. While Aiden and Derlude were both dressed in their red uniforms, and Hitomi and Irene wore more diplomatic uniforms. Riku was dressed with a shirt over a T-shirt, Niel wore a sweater over a turtleneck, and Ayame wore what seemed like a skirt. Anthony, Elizabeth, and Christopher wore their Earth Alliance uniforms. Meanwhile, on the bridge, the bridge officers all wore ZAFT uniforms.

"I honestly don't know," Aiden sighed, seemingly distressed, "I was thinking about an infiltration into the _Lionheart_, but we said we'd cut pursuit. We aren't really cutting pursuit either; we're staying about two hundred kilometers behind it. My plan was to infiltrate the _Lionheart_ and extract Athrun Zala so we can resume our attack on the _Lionheart_, but quite honestly, I have no idea how to do that. And aside from that, I, like Hitomi and Irene, am worrying about how the Moon must be pressing PLANT right now; no one takes territorial trespasses lightly."

"Let's start with the obvious," Irene placed her hands on her slender hips, floated in the middle of the bridge, "We can't risk another close call like that. The next time Crawford tries a move like that, we have to let him go."

"I agree with Irene," Hitomi added, "Chairwoman Canaver must already be having a hard time trying to deal with whatever accusation the Moon is throwing at her; I don't want the situation to multiply."

"Stupid Naturals," Derlude muttered.

"Hey!" Elizabeth shouted and prepared to slap Derlude, but Anthony held her back.

"Derlude," Aiden sighed, "We have Naturals on this ship. And we're part of the Peace Project. Have you forgotten?"

"Yeah, yeah, sorry," Derlude smiled sheepishly. Elizabeth continued to glare at Derlude.

"The Moon will probably be somewhat slow in contacting PLANT, actually," Anthony added, "The Moon doesn't handle diplomatic affairs like this; they'll probably go through Washington first. And I kind of messed up the chain of command and communication before I boarded this ship; I rank pretty high on the Moon, even if my rank is only First Lieutenant. Let's just say the brass there dot on us. But there are always exceptions; hell, Earth might've already taken measures against PLANT already. I guess it all depends on luck."

"Can we risk another attack?" Riku asked, "He's headed away from Earth territory, and we can easily dispatch..."

"It's possible," Niel interrupted Riku, "but not a good idea. They have a hostage. We know that much already, and he's of relative importance to the Defense Council. Hell, he's of relative importance to me. And we all know the Defense Council usually doesn't go to such extents as to protect a hostage. Right, Aiden?"

"I don't agree with the Defense Council on this," Aiden grimaced, "For one thing, I don't understand why the Defense Council doesn't stick with its usual policy, ignore one hostage, and blast that ship."

"You do know that you guys probably never had any real hostage situations to begin with, right?" Anthony laughed, "I mean, the Earth Alliance never really took prisoners; they killed Naturals on sight. Or the other way around."

"Actually," Christopher interjected quietly, "The _Archangel_ once took Lacus Clyne hostage near Junius Seven."

"One exception, Christopher," Anthony said, "And Lacus Clyne was pretty high up the ZAFT ranks."

"Athrun is pretty high up too," Riku noted.

"Was," Niel corrected, "But his father isn't Chairman anymore, and the name Zala isn't exactly a welcome utterance around here. Athrun uses the name Alex Reno nowadays. Only a few people, such as Yzak and I, know who he really is."

"The Supreme Council probably got involved," Derlude commented wisely, "Doesn't this thing just smell of Lacus Clyne?"

"Why would Senator Clyne know?" Riku asked.

"Senator Clyne used to be engaged with Athrun Zala," Hitomi explained, "That is, until Senator Clyne defected from PLANT and formed the Clyne Faction and the Triple Ship Alliance. Why she isn't re-engaged with Zala, I don't know."

"Not everyone wants to re-engage with Prince Charming if his father is a genocidal lunatic," Derlude laughed.

"Derlude," Aiden said softly, "That was off the line."

Derlude snorted just once as he stifled a wave of laughter. "Yeah. Sorry about that."

"You have a tendency to get into trouble,"Christopher smirked at Derlude, quite amused.

"Oh, you haven't seen the best of it," Derlude smirked back.

"Let's get back to the topic at hand," Niel prompted, "What we're going to do with the _Lionheart_. You sure we shouldn't just contact the _Eternal_ and have Captain Bartfeldt intercept? Disable the ship maybe?"

"Even the _Eternal_ can't make it in time," Irene said as she checked the calculations on the bridge computer, "If the _Lionheart_ is headed for Junius Seven, anyways."

"Anyone know why it's headed for Junius Seven?" Hitomi asked, "I wasn't informed of any ZAFT activity on Junius Seven."

"Even I don't know," Aiden admitted, "You think they have a military installation there right under our noses?"

"No one's been at Junius Seven for years," Derlude said, "We wouldn't be paying attention to a dead space colony."

"You know," Riku helped, "The _Lionheart_ may be headed there just to evade us. It's not easy to navigate in Junius Seven. With all the debris, anyways."

"Well, well," Derlude laughed, "Riku does provide something useful for once." Riku looked at Derlude with mixed feelings, not sure whether to take it as an insult or a compliment.

"Let's get back to the problem with the _Lionheart_," Niel said for the second time, "What are we going to do about it?"

"Requesting permission to infiltrate the _Lionheart_."

Everyone stared at Ayame as she spoke up for the first time, not only because her request was the last thing everyone expected, but her merely talking was also the last thing everyone expected.

"Loki is installed with a camouflage system," Ayame said, "I'll maintain stealth and dock Loki right under the _Lionheart's_ hull in the ship's blind spot; radar won't detect it, even after its phase shift deactivates. I'll go EVA and infiltrate through the hangar. I have my ZAFT uniform; assuming that's what the people on the _Lionheart_ wear, I shouldn't attract attention. If not, it's fine. I'm trained for stealth and infiltration missions; I can easily get around the _Lionheart_ without being seen. I'll locate and rescue the hostage, then extract him by going EVA from the hangar, then back into the Loki, and come back the the _Kalima_."

There was a great length of a pause.

Finally, Derlude whistled. "Boy," he laughed, "You know, the people who don't talk much always say some incredible things when they open their mouths."

"That means we'd better keep Christopher under a watchful eye," Elizabeth smiled and nudged Christopher, who continued to remain silent.

"The plan has a great number of risks," Aiden frowned, "Security in the _Lionheart_ won't be lax. And we don't have a timetable. You don't know where in that ship Athrun Zala is. He may not be there at all. We won't be able to contact you, and we have a very unstable timetable."

"I'm against the plan," Riku stepped forward and said, "It's much too dangerous. I don't want Ayame risking her life like this."

"You risk your life on the battlefield," Ayame whispered, not looking at Riku, "I'll do my part."

"We're in mobile suits on the battlefield," Riku frowned, "This is different. You'll be overwhelmed, without any good weapon."

"I'm trained for stealth and infiltration," Ayame said, "That is my greatest weapon."

"Ayame," Hitomi murmured, "Riku's right. You shouldn't risk it. We still need you."

"I offered my services to the Peace Project for a reason, Hitomi," Ayame whispered, "Let me do this. Please."

Aiden looked at Ayame, then Hitomi. He sighed, scratching his head. "Do we have a timetable, Irene?" Aiden asked, "How long before we reach Junius Seven?"

"Four," Irene replied, tapping her computer, "The _Lionheart _is operating under one engine; it's going to be slow."

"Ayame," Aiden frowned, "Under the current conditions and lack of intelligence, we might not be able to enter Junius Seven. You understand what this means, right?"

Ayame nodded. "I only have four hours to execute this mission. Less if we waste time trying to decide what to do." Ayame looked at Hitomi, almost pleadingly. Hitomi caught the look, stared at the floor, and looked at Aiden. Aiden grimaced; it seemed that it was his decision.

"Best of luck to you, Ayame," Aiden whispered. Ayame nodded, saluted, and left the bridge as everyone watched her go in silence. The bridge doors closed as Ayame left the bridge, but Riku quickly followed after, his face a mixture of emotions.

Anthony placed a hand on Aiden's shoulder, whispered, "You sure it's a good idea letting her go like that?"

"We don't have a choice," Aiden frowned, not turning around to look at Anthony, "If we don't agree, she'll probably run off by herself anyways."

* * *

Ayame unbuttoned the collar of her shirt, her mind at relative ease as she began to undress inside the locker room. It was what she was trained to do. Infiltrate. Avoid the enemy to secure and achieve the objective. Rescue. Extract target from area to a selective position. Assassinate.

Ayame paused, then shook her head violently, trying to get the thoughts out of her head. She didn't want to go there. But the words came back to her so violently. _Assassination. Target to be eliminated. Corridor, corridor. Shinobi unit, Kunoichi unit. Operative cells. 1392-Ayame._

Ayame shook her head violently once more, clearing her head, concentrating at the task at hand. She reached in for her red ZAFT uniform, pulled it out, and let go, allowing it to float in zero gravity as she prepared to take her shirt off.

The door opened behind Ayame, and Ayame whirled around, saw Riku walk through the doorway. Ayame watched Riku curiously as he moved to his locker, and reach in. He pulled out a green ZAFT uniform, then walked over to Ayame.

"Here," Riku offered, raising his green ZAFT uniform, "Take this instead."

Ayame continued to stare at Riku, puzzled.

"There might not be a lot of top guns in red uniform on that ship," Riku explained, "You know what I mean, right? Only people at the top of their class wear red, and they might be well-known on that ship. People will start to suspect things if they discover an extra 'red' on that ship."

Ayame looked at Riku, then the uniform, took it from his hands gently. "Thank you," she whispered, but continued to look at him.

"Is..." Riku implored, "something wrong?"

"Why do you have a green uniform instead of a red one?" Ayame asked, "With your piloting skills, getting to the top of your class shouldn't be a problem."

"Oh," Riku laughed, "That. They said I had emotional problems. That I got worked up easily, act out of impulse, and become a liability to my team. At least, that's what my flight instructor said. I got angry and told him what I thought of him; guess that didn't help me get to the top of the class."

Ayame continued to stare at Riku, then nodded, accepting his explanation. "I see," she whispered.

"Are you sure you're okay with this?" Riku suddenly blurted, his expression full of concern, "You don't have to do this."

Ayame shrugged. "I thought we have been through this before."

"I wasn't convinced," Riku stated plainly.

"I'll be fine," Ayame said simply.

Riku frowned, continued to stare at Ayame. Finally, he said, "I can't say I'm convinced you should be doing this. But I need you to promise us something."

Ayame blinked.

"Come back," Riku said, "Whether you achieve your objective or not, come back to us. The Peace Project still needs you. We still need you."

Ayame seemed puzzled by Riku's behavior, paused as she contemplated. Finally, she nodded, and looked at Riku the way an older sister may look at a little brother to assure him. "Promise."

She turned around back toward her locker, then took off her shirt, and Riku suddenly realized that he was staring at Ayame's bare back. He suddenly felt a need to leave the locker room quickly. "Uh..." he pressed his lips together, trying to look away from Ayame, "I'll be waiting outside..."

He prepared to turn around, but suddenly saw that there seemed to be something on Ayame's back, right between the shoulder blades, something that looked like a barcode with four numbers under it. But the urge to get out overwhelmed his curiosity, and he left the room without further comment.


	8. Chapter Seven

Note: Sorry for the delay; has been playing games with my internet, and this is one of the rare times I've been able to log on. Sorry for keeping you waiting.

Chapter Seven

Athrun didn't as much as wince as the ship doctor injected a needle into his arm, taking a sample of Athrun's DNA as he carefully dabbed the small hole punctured in the skin with a chemical to disinfect it. He then applied a small bandage to the wound, and left without another words, leaving Athrun and Crawford along in Crawford's room.

"What was that for?" Athrun asked as the door sealed behind the doctor.

"We simply needed to take a blood, gene, and DNA sample for medical reasons," Crawford smiled, "Makes it easier identifying you. Plus, the chemical you were injected with when you were taken at the Hybrid Shopping Mall yesterday afternoon. The chemical does leave a bad impression in the human body when left there without subduing it after forty-eight hours, you know."

"There were other depressants and tranquilizers," Athrun said, keeping his eyes trained on Crawford, "Dimethyl sulfoxide and zolpidem. That DMSO concentration would've been painless, easily dissipated through the air. An air spray is a hell lot more comfortable than a needle down my back."

"DMSO is too sensitive," Crawford explained, "True, we'd knock you out, but it's also possible we knock out our own people. And you would've had one hell of a headache when you woke up. But really, it was your medical sample we were also concerned about; we prefer to be practical and kill two birds with one stone."

Athrun didn't trust Crawford, but Crawford had proved himself to be a very reasonable abductor. Athrun had been treated well, with good food and drink, with all the necessities of his current state given.

"Tell me," Athrun demanded, "What are your plans? Where are we going now?"

"We," Crawford elaborated, "are currently evading a painfully persistent ZAFT battleship that is currently following us toward Junius Seven."

"Junius Seven," Athrun whispered, "Why Junius Seven?"

"You would very much believe I'm lying if I told you that some members of this ship wishes to pay respects to those who have perish on that station, wouldn't you?"

"You wouldn't be lying," Athrun said slowly, "But I wouldn't believe that's the reason you're heading there."

Crawford laughed. "You're as sharp as your father, Athrun Zala. Or did that come from your mother? She perished on board this station, I'm aware of it. Patrick tied it in with his hatred of Naturals many times, expressed it to me. You will pardon me if I ignited any mental scars in your mind, Athrun Zala."

Athrun kept his emotions in check, not allowing his eyes to waver from Crawford. "What are we doing here?" Athrun asked again.

"We are here," Crawford began to explain, but suddenly paused as the ringing of the computer's communication's suite took his attention. He floated over to the console, pressed a button.

"Admiral," a bridge officer began.

"Yes, I'm aware that I should be on the bridge now," Crawford interrupted the officer, "Thank you for you efficiency." He deactivated the console.

"I apologize, Athrun Zala," Crawford smiled at Athrun, "But it appears matters on the bridge take my attention from you once again. I'm afraid I can't delay with an explanation, but you'll learn in a few hours, anyways. Where we're going, and what we're about to do."

* * *

Yzak made his discomfort publicly known as soon as Cagalli, Kira, and Murrue stepped onto the bridge of the _Scorpio_, escorted by two ZAFT guards. While trying to keep check of his rising ire, there was a pain, a fire that he simply had to let out, even if it was classified as indelicacy in front of the Representative of Orb. Dearka, who was also already on the bridge, knew exactly what was going to happen. 

He floated right past Cagalli, and stopped right in front of Kira, his eyes ablaze in a mixture of anger and distrust. Dearka flashed him a warning look, knowing full well what Yzak was about to do, but Yzak was beyond seeing it.

"You," Yzak growled, "You were the pilot of Strike and Freedom, weren't you?"

"Yzak!" Dearka's voice was laced with scorn, "This isn't..."

Kira didn't need an explanation to realize what was going on. He hadn't been sure who Yzak Jule was, although he heard Dearka Elsmann talk about him many times on board the _Archangel_ and the _Eternal_. But the confrontation made it clear; Yzak was the former pilot of Duel, and he was still quite ticked about the vendetta he had with the pilot of Strike. Or Freedom. Or whatever. Kira's emotions were mixed; a mixture of anger, sorrow, regret. It was what Dearka expected; Kira didn't quite forget that Yzak had fired on a civilian shuttle during the Battle of Orbit, didn't quite forget that Kira was the one who destroyed Blitz, didn't quite forget that he wasn't supposed to be behaving like this. But now Yzak was face-to-face in front of him, and he didn't know what to do.

"So it was you, huh?" Kira whispered, his voice low, but dangerous. Dearka knew that Kira was nice and naïve most of the time, but he also knew what Kira was capable of when he went berserk, which made him even with a military-trained Yzak. He was not about to let a brawl unfold on the spot.

"Yzak!" Dearka snapped, "Stand down!"

"Stay out of this, Dearka," Yzak snapped, not looking at his comrade, keeping his glare trained on Kira, "It's my problem. Mine, and his."

Cagalli and Murrue stared at Dearka in confusion; they didn't know what was going on. Dearka could've let the situation stand, but with the passengers on board right now, and the events that had happened when he defected to the Clyne Faction, he wasn't going to let it.

"Yzak!" Dearka stepped in between Kira and Yzak, pushing them apart, "Quit being an idiot! You too, Kira! It's over, dammit! We're supposed to be on the same damn side; quit acting like a bunch of kids arguing about who's going to grab the cheap brass ring!"

Yzak turned to Dearka angrily. "You know who he is?" Yzak screamed, "You know who the hell he is? This is the pilot who murdered..."

"This," Dearka shoved Yzak even harder away from Kira, "is the pilot of Freedom, who saved your damn ass at JOSH-A base when the Cyclops System activated. This is the pilot of Freedom, who saved PLANT from two nuclear missile strikes directed at PLANT. This is the pilot of Freedom, who will be a politically sensitive passenger and will be on your ship for the next few days along with Representative Attha and the former captain of the Archangel, who you will treat with the utmost respect. Do you understand that, Yzak, or do I need to spell out every damn letter for you?"

Yzak stared at Dearka, anger matching his shock. He was not aware that all the bridge officers were staring at the miniature drama that was unfolding at the spot. Finally, he scowled. "Fine," Yzak spat, "But if he gives me any trouble..."

"He won't," Dearka interrupted Yzak, "And you'd better not give him any trouble either." Without waiting for a response from Yzak, Dearka turned back to Cagalli.

"It's been a long time, Representative Attha," Dearka greeted, "Kira. Captain Ramius. I hope you haven't forgotten me."

Cagalli smiled. "I wouldn't try," Cagalli said, "And Cagalli's good enough; I never liked standing on ceremony anyways."

"Just call me Murrue," Murrue added, "I wouldn't want to be called captain on 'his' ship," Murrue pointed at Yzak.

"I'll try to remember," Dearka nodded, "It's good to see you all well again. Please note that you are, in a sense, political passengers. You're under our protection, but we call the shots. This isn't the Triple Ship Alliance like before."

"I understand," Cagalli nodded.

"I'd like you all to meet Captain Yzak Jule," Dearka introduced, "The son of Senator Ezaria Jule, and a very brilliant captain and MS pilot, albeit with a short temper. And, as you have already guessed, he, Athrun, and I were the ones that kept after the Archangel a while back. Remember?"

"Um..." Murrue found it uncomfortable trying to answer that question, "Yes, I remember."

"Stop making that face, Kira," Dearka laughed, noting that Kira was still ticked off about Yzak, "You're embarrassing me more than you're embarrassing yourself."

Kira looked at Dearka, surprised, then blushed. "Sorry," he muttered.

"Don't be," Dearka said, knowing full well that if he had given Yzak just a few more milliseconds, Yzak would've said, "Yeah, you'd better be."

"So what do we do now?" Murrue asked, "Senator Leland told us that he would be sending us to Colony Mendel, but we're not sure why yet."

"We're to meet with Captain Bartfeldt there," Dearka explained, "We have a ship, the _Kaliea_, after the _Lionheart_ already, so..."

"Wait," Yzak interrupted from the behind, his eyes wide in surprise, "You knew about the _Kaliea_ already?"

Dearka shrugged. "Why not?"

"Damn it!" Yzak scowled, "That ship was exactly why I got into that shoutmatch with the rat-ass port captain!"

"I'm sorry if it's the source of your pains," Dearka said, apology not in his voice, "but that ship is currently chasing the ship that may be carrying Athrun captive."

"Do we have any news on Athrun?" Kira asked hurriedly.

"Not yet," Dearka shook his head, "We haven't been able to contact the _Kaliea_ either. Don't worry, though; the Ace-Ops are the cream of the crop; they won't screw up. There is, however, one thing I have to go over with you. As long as you're on this ship, you're not allowed to use any communications device of any kind, even if it's a cell phone or a room-to-room communications suite, nor are you allowed to have any sort of command on this ship."

"Makes sense," Cagalli frowned, mildly surprised, "But I don't see why you're trying to emphasize it."

"I don't like it as much as you do, trust me," Dearka laughed, "But they're orders from Senator Clyne and Senator Leland. Earth just declared war on us, and we can't afford to let them now that we have you on board. For our sake, and also for your sake. I'm sure you understand."

Cagalli nodded in understanding. "I understand."

"Kira and Murrue, however," Dearka turned to face Kira and Murrue, "are a different story. You don't really have a noteworthy identity, excuse my rude wording. But you're not exactly politically important. You are allowed to do anything you'd like on this ship as long as you don't interfere; to everyone, you're just two civilians, and it really doesn't matter where you're from. But quite honestly, I'm not sure it matters because our flight plan takes us far from Earth territory. Isn't that right, Yzak?"

"I guess so," Yzak nodded, "The Moon is in orbit to move away from a direct path between PLANT and Colony Mendel, so we should be getting there quickly. But we have to leave immediately; if Earth forces are mobilizing right now, they're spread quickly, and we'll be in trouble."

* * *

Ayame maneuvered Loki under the _Lionheart_, the movements subtle as to prevent the _Lionheart_ from picking up her signatures. It worked like a charm; Ayame could tell by the sensors that the _Lionheart_ had not picked up thermal signatures of Loki launching from the _Kaliea_ two hundred kilometers behind. Ayame gently docked the Loki with the _Lionheart_; magnetic clamps attached Loki against the hull of the _Lionheart_, right next to where Ayame knew the radar was located, docking Loki in the blind spot of the _Lionheart_, where neither radar or cameras would find it. 

Ayame powered Loki down; Loki's phase shift deactivated and appeared in real space, its mirage colloid ceasing to function. Satisfied that the first part of her plan was complete, she made sure that her flight suit was airtight and pressurized; diagnostics showed green across the board. She opened the cockpit, and floated out of Loki, into the infinity of space. Maneuvering was relatively easy with the EVA packs in zero gravity; Ayame had no problem accelerating ahead as she skimmed the _Lionheart's_ hull, making her approach undetectable. She made it toward the launch pad, which had been cracked open after the last battle, courtesy a well-placed shot by her sniper.

She pressed herself against the long corridor, fighting back familiar images that came to her head as she realized she was once again going down that long, narrow path. _1392-Ayame. Kunoichi unit to be deployed against Shinobi unit._

_They want my head, because they have you now. So give it to them._

_No! I can't. I'm afraid to do it._

_You'll be even more afraid of what they'll do to you if you don't kill me. So do it. Plunge that blade into my throat. Before they plunge their blade into yours. That's final, Ayame._

"Stop it, Ayame!" Ayame cried out to herself, a muffled scream as she forced the thoughts out of her head. She shook her head violently, shuddered, then floated in space, trying to calm herself down.

"Your name," Ayame whispered, trying to orientate herself, "is Ayame Kaliea. You are not 1392-Ayame, you are First Lieutenant Ayame Kaliea of the Peace Project, pilot of Loki. You are here on the mission of extracting Athrun Zala from the _Lionheart_." She finished, felt a wave of calm wash over her, became self-assured. She was ready.

She floated through the corridor, along the corners and in avoidance of all sensors and cameras. It was easy with the EVA thrusters; she had no problems getting through. She moved into the hangar, found the place busy with activity, and was relieved; it meant everyone was going to be too busy to realize there was an extra number among their ranks. She did not, however, want to test if that worked, and reminded herself to stay in stealth as much as possible.

Floating through the hangars, she watched as the hangar bay worked to repair, or at least, contain the damage that she had caused to the engines. They were much too busy to notice a lone ZAFT pilot wander around the ship. Ayame was thankful that they were all wearing ZAFT uniforms; it made her job a lot easier, made her harder to spot. They were also all in spacesuits; the damage to the hangar airlock forced them to work under pressurized conditions.

She maneuvered to the hangar elevator, then pressed a button, taking her to the decks of the _Lionheart_. The elevator AI informed her automatically that it was now safe to take off her helmet; she did so, not wanting to attract attention when the elevator doors opened. She was going to be just another pilot, getting to wherever she was supposed to be. No one cared about her as she went through the halls, taking all the less used corridors. She had memorized the floor plans of Nazca-class ships; she knew exactly what roads would be more frequently used, which wouldn't. She once asked Aiden to lend her a Nazca-class ship, the _Gabriel_, with all personnel on board so she could practice stealth. She wore an unmarked flight suit that made her look different from the other ZAFT personnel on board, which meant she couldn't be spotted. She spent several days sneaking around the _Gabriel_, working her way through vents, knocking out guards, stealing food, water, until she was satisfied and extracted herself from the _Gabriel_ without being detected. Aiden informed the captain of the _Gabriel_ about what had happened the following day.

Making her way to the locker room, she changed swiftly, making sure that her spacesuit was properly tucked away; she was going to need it later. In ZAFT uniform, she looked somewhat out-of-place; ZAFT usually issued skirts to female officers. However, it was not exactly non-regulation, and the only people that would ask are the ones disappointed about not seeing an extra pair of hot legs.

There were really only two places where they would put a hostage. There was the ship's containment area, of course, but as Ayame logged herself into a public computer console, used by separate divisions on the ship to check various statistics and information on board the ship, she could see that there were no prisoners logged in the containment area. Which really meant there was only one other logical place, the captain's quarters. She made her way there.

The door to the captain's quarters were unguarded; that was what she had expected. The electronic lock was also activated; that was what she had expected as well. But Ayame wasn't about to let that stop her. _He_ had taught her well; if she couldn't open a simple electronic lock, she might as well plunge her dagger into her own throat and end it right there.

She quickly inserted her dagger into a slit on the side of the lock, between the metal casing and the door, nudged the blade in about one centimeter in. She knew that the orange and blue wires would be on the right, exactly two centimeters down from the top of the lock. She cut the two wires without really seeing it, then twisted the blade, forcing the metal casing open; the orange and blue wires were the security wires that would alert the ship if the metal casing was somehow forced open. But now that the wires were severed, the metal casing came off easily, and did not attract any attention. She looked inside, found the red, green, and white wires, cut through them, and pressed a red button on the inside of the lock; the door hissed and clicked once, then was silent. It was unlocked. Ayame put the metal casing back, making it look as if no one had touched it before, then forced the door open. She stepped inside, closed the door.

Athrun Zala had not changed much compared to the photographs that Niel had given him prior to her infiltration. Niel had told her that the photographs were about three years old, and Athrun might've changed dramatically, but that wasn't a problem; Athrun was easy to recognize as he looked up at Ayame, surprised. Ayame turned toward Athrun, her red eyes focusing on him.

"Who are you?" Athrun asked.

Ayame looked Athrun over. "Are you injured?" she asked, "Can you move?"

Athrun blinked. "I don't think so," he frowned.

"Good," Ayame nodded, "I am 1392..." she suddenly realized what she was saying, shook her head, then corrected herself, "My name is Ayame Kaliea. First Lieutenant Ayame Kaliea of the Peace Project. I'm here to get you out."

Athrun frowned. "Get me out? You infiltrated this ship?"

"That's correct," Ayame nodded, "We don't have time. We have to go, now."

Athrun shook his head. "I can't," he whispered, "I'll be betting the whole ship knows me by now; they'll recognize me the instant I step into sight."

"Then we'll stay out of sight," Ayame shrugged, pushed herself off a wall, grabbed Athrun by the shoulder, "There's a vent outside the captain's quarters. We'll take that and make our way to the locker room. I'll give you a flight suit; we'll get out afterwards."

Athrun stared at Ayame for a moment, then nodded, seemingly agreeing. "You seem to know what you're doing."

Their infiltration through the ventilation system was relatively easy in zero gravity, which made the crawling movements unnecessarily; they practically floated through the narrow shafts. Ayame amazed Athrun as she guided them safely to the locker room vents after going through a labyrinth of shafts.

"Here," Ayame tossed Athrun a flight suit after she picked the lock on a random locker, "Put on the helmet, pressurize it, and follow me."

"How do you intend to get off the ship?" Athrun asked as she watched Ayame don her flight suit.

"I have a mobile suit prepared," Ayame explained, clicking her helmet into place and listening to the hiss of the suit as it pressurized properly, "Hurry. We don't have much time."

Athrun looked at Ayame curiously as he quickly sealed his flight suit, pressurized it. The reflection of the visor sufficiently masked his face from the majority of observers; keep his head down and move quickly, no one would notice. He didn't need Ayame telling him that as he left the locker room and quickly entered the elevator leading to the hangar. An automated female recording reminded all passengers that the hangar airlock was breached, and all passengers should pressurize their spacesuits.

The elevator doors opened, and the two floated out from the elevator; no one noticed them. Ayame pointed at a stack of supplies near the airlock; Athrun nodded and the two of them flew over to it, hiding in the shadows. Ayame peered from their hiding spot as soon as they reached the hiding spot, then, satisfied everyone was too busy noticing, tugged at Athrun, the both of them moving through the crack blasted through the hangar doors.

"We're going EVA," Ayame alerted Athrun, "You don't have a thruster pack. Hold on to me. I don't want to lose you in this vacuum."

Athrun grabbed onto Ayame's shoulder as the two of them drifted slowly out of the launch bay, avoiding all cameras and sensors. Athrun was impressed at the way Ayame handled herself; she was a truly accomplished infiltrator, and Athrun suspected she was once part of a hit squad of some sort.

Ayame left the launch bay, then floated toward the undercarriage of the _Lionheart_, where she had left Loki. Athrun opened his eyes in shock as he realized that she had docked a custom model mobile suit in the blind spot of the _Lionheart_.

"A mobile suit?" Athrun whispered, immensely surprised.

"Loki," Ayame explained, "My infiltration was assisted by the mirage colloid system on it. Get in." She maneuvered herself over to the Loki's cockpit, inserted a password into the keypad next to the cockpit hatch. The cockpit opened, and Ayame pushed Athrun in. Ayame settled in afterwards, sealing the cockpit and activating Loki. Loki's mechanisms activated with a dull whir, and the phase shift activated, followed by the mirage colloid as Loki disappeared.

"This is where the stealth ends," Ayame said, and hit Loki's thrusters on full; the Loki paused for a brief seconds, then blasted away from the _Lionheart_ as the thrusters guided it back toward the _Kalima_. Athrun noticed that the _Lionheart_ was just outside the Junius Seven debris zone; it would only take the _Lionheart_ ten minutes to enter it.

"This is Ayame Kaliea to the _Kalima_," Ayame spoke into the microphone, and Athrun noticed it was on an encrypted channel, "_Kalima_, do you read?"

A decidedly female mid-Atlantic voice, elegant and resonant, replied. "Ayame?" the voice replied, "Thank goodness; we were worried to death about what had happened. You're cutting the schedule a little close."

"I know," Ayame said, "I had to. Sorry, Irene."

"Are you alright?" another voice asked, male, a serious voice that Athrun didn't recognize.

"I'm fine," Ayame replied, "I've successfully extracted Athrun Zala."

A pause on the other end. "That's very good, Ayame," the male voice finally replied, "Please return to the _Kalima_ as soon as possible. We'll take care of things here. Good work, Ayame." The channel closed.

Athrun looked at the triangular _Kalima_ ahead, watching the dagger slice through space as it trailed the _Lionheart_ slowly. "You managed to sneak into the _Lionheart_ from that ship?" Athrun whispered, impressed, "You're pretty amazing yourself."

Ayame shrugged, but her mind was half distracted by Athrun's words. Of course she pulled it off. There was no question about it. Because it was that person who had taught her the techniques, the skills, and she had utilized it to a focal point. It was as much Ayame could do, after all.


	9. Chapter Eight

Note: Sorry about the huge delay with this update; I've been busy lately.

Chapter Eight

"I'm sorry about Yzak," Dearka apologized as soon as he reached the quarters of Kira, Cagalli, and Murrue, formalities out of the way, token appreciation given out of friendship. Sure, Cagalli may be the Representative of Orb, but technically, that wasn't supposed to happen, and Dearka didn't want to give her the impression, at least, not yet. PLANT had to keep the noses of the Earth Alliance out of this.

It was essentially the political officer's quarters, one that Cagalli currently resided in. Kira and Murrue had their own respective quarters down the hall, which Dearka had arranged for them. Although Dearka didn't think Cagalli would disobey his request, he took extra precautions and disabled all communications devices in her quarters.

"What happened between them?" Cagalli asked, seated on the sofa, looking at Dearka curiously, "I haven't heard."

"After the events on Heliopolis," Dearka explained, "We developed a sort of vendetta against the Archangel and Strike. Well, it wasn't really a vendetta; we took it like a milk run. Destroy the ship and the mobile armor. Yzak took it as a vendetta early; his personality admitted that. Athrun probably would've wanted to take revenge if Kira wasn't his old friend. There was one Ginn you took out back at Heliopolis, the pilot being Athrun's former mentor, Kira."

Kira's features hardened as he stared down on the floor, and he didn't say anything. It was almost expected.

"Yzak really got ticked off after he got a scar from Kira, though," Dearka continued, "Kira attacked Duel at one point, and damaged the cockpit; the cockpit blew apart and slashed a scar across Yzak's face. He really took it seriously, and we all did after Blitz was destroyed."

Murrue marked the way Dearka talked about these events, and avoided the usage of names, the names of Kira's victims. Dearka knew what all of them knew, but Murrue figured that only she, and maybe Cagalli, understood consciously. An enemy becomes harder to kill once you know him. It's easier to shoot the enemy in front of you if you don't wonder if he has family, a friends, girlfriend, or whatever. Dearka knew that Kira may one day stumble across a name, realize its a victim he had killed, and learn all about his life, as well as his death, the death that he, Kira, had produced. And Dearka was no fool; he may not have seen how Kira had lived before Murrue took him in, but Dearka could imagine.

"But don't worry," Dearka laughed, patting Kira on the shoulder, "Yzak's forgiven you. He's already removed the scar on his forehead, meaning that he doesn't intend to how the hate against you any longer. But it's just normal for him to get angry over things like this. So don't worry; he shows off his temper to everyone."

"Let's talk about our progress so far," Murrue tactfully changed the subject, now that the conversation had changed to a pleasant note, "We haven't met any Earth forces so far, have we?"

"No," Dearka said, paused, then admitted, "Earth is being quite sloppy in this department. They haven't explained why they declared war on us, neither did they give us any terms of surrender, or deployed and forces against us. But there is a great wall of silence between us; we have warships spread out across PLANT territory and sometimes going into international space, but the Earth Alliance is sticking around the Moon. Intelligence reports that the activity there has only be increased by twenty percent, and that may be just because the _Lionheart_ almost went into Earth airspace. Chairwoman Canaver has sent requests for a meeting, but they haven't been answered so far. We don't know why."

"Was that the reason why Earth declared war?" Cagalli asked.

"Unknown," Dearka shrugged, "It's unlikely, though. We have reports from the _Kalima_ that they told the Moon the _Lionheart_ was a renegade ship. And the _Lionheart_ didn't really enter Moon territory. Earth would've pushed for talks, but not something like this. I suspect another reason, but I don't know what yet. Meanwhile, what's Orb going to do?"

_A penetrating question, that_, Murrue thought quietly.

Cagalli tensed, hesitated, then replied slowly, "I'm not quite sure," Cagalli admitted, "While I've got my tracks covered, as far as this expedition is concerned, my most trusted people aren't exactly senators or anything. But in my opinion, my administration is likely to keep their nose out of the affair. At least, that's what I hope."

_My administration, she says_, Murrue said to herself, impressed, _Cagalli is taking the reins of leadership well. But she has to take care of her administration more carefully._

"I'm inclined to agree," Dearka nodded, "Orb hasn't really given us any trouble so far. I'm hoping for that to continue."

Ringing on Dearka's cellphone nabbed their attention, and Dearka cursed himself at not disabling it before entering the room. However, he noticed that the caller ID displayed itself as Yzak, so he took up the call.

"Yzak," Dearka nodded, "You'd better have a good reason for calling me."

"I do," Yzak said on the other end, his voice tight, "We just picked up several contacts, destination unknown. They're lingering rather close to PLANT territory though."

"How many contacts?" Dearka asked, and the edge in his voice made Kira, Cagalli, and Murrue listen to the conversation intently, although they could not hear Yzak's reply, "Where's their carrier?"

"Unknown," Yzak replied, "I'm suspecting a light squadron, maybe three, four mobile suits. As for a ship, I'm picking up none."

"So we've got some mobile suits running around, near PLANT territory without a battleship nearby," Dearka confirmed Yzak's words, paused, then asked, "You know what models?"

"Initial analysis indicates that the mobile suits are M1s."

Dearka could barely keep the surprise from his voice. "What?" Dearka exclaimed, "Astrays?"

Orb's M1 Astrays near PLANT territory. Dearka's words were enough to make Cagalli's eye widen with shock.

* * *

Athrun was quite surprised to find the variety of people occupying the bridge of the _Kalima_ as he floated in behind Ayame. He identified several ZAFT officers, others wearing civilian clothes, and even one wearing an Earth Alliance officer uniform. Athrun tensed slightly, although he knew that no one was going to give him any trouble. Or at least, he didn't think so. 

"Athrun!" a familiar voice called out from the side; Athrun turned and was not-quite-surprised to see Niel Schneider floating toward him.

"Well met, Niel," Athrun smiled as Niel stopped in front of him and patted him on the back.

"We meet here, of all places," Niel gave a slight grin, paused, added, "I think you already figured out I wasn't the one who called you yesterday afternoon."

"Took too damn long to figure that one out, in my opinion," Athrun laughed, "I'm glad we're all safe and sound, though."

"I agree," an unfamiliar male ZAFT officer said, seemingly competent and intelligent, "You were nearly a political case, Athrun Zala; in this case, I'm quite glad you're safe and sound."

"Political case?" Athrun echoed, but the officer had turned to Ayame.

"You've done a great job, Ayame," the officer smiled at Ayame, "You should go to your quarters and rest; the past four hours must've drained you. Fantastic job, Ayame."

Ayame merely nodded, saluted, and floated out of the bridge. Athrun watched her depart before focusing his attention on the ZAFT officer.

"She's very impressive," Athrun admitted as soon as Ayame left.

"One of a kind," the ZAFT officer agreed, then proceeded to introduce himself, "I'm First Lieutenant Aiden Renguard of the Ace-Ops, extension of Hitomi Varyvae's Peace Project," the ZAFT officer extended his hand for a handshake.

Athrun took it. "Please to meet you," he nodded.

Aiden squeezed, shook the hand, released. He gestured around at the members on the bridge. "I see you're already acquainted with Niel Schneider," Aiden smiled, "This is the current captain of the battleship _Kalima_, Irene Vaelmont, who is also a diplomatic aide to Senator Leland. Our political officer, Hitomi Varyvae, mother behind the Peace Project and the Ace-Ops. And this is Anthony Marks of the Earth Alliance; we picked him up after the nasty affair near the Moon."

The group made one or two formalities before getting to business.

"The Defense Committee gave us quite an earful trying to get you back safely," Aiden said, looking squarely at Athrun, "In fact, we had been contacted by Admiral Orlando Chester before, telling us not to fire on you."

"I guess I should thank him for my life," Athrun tried giving a smile; it didn't come out that way, and ended up being a smirk.

"Do you know what's going on?" Aiden asked, "The reason why everyone's so desperate to nab you?"

Athrun crossed his arms, frowned. "If you're talking about Admiral Irwin Crawford on board the _Lionheart_, I can tell you he's part of the Zala Faction. What he wants from me, I'm not sure."

At the mention of Zala Faction, the atmosphere and pressure around the entire bridge tightened suddenly; throats were cleared, gestures were made, and nervous glances were given. Aiden, however, didn't seem to change at all as he focused his attention on Athrun.

"And what about Aprilius One?" Aiden asked simply.

"I don't know," Athrun admitted, "It may have to do with my report."

"Your report?" Irene sounded puzzled.

"Athrun here's an analyst," Niel explained for Athrun, "Military and political analyst; he can practically take any kind of information and situation, and give it a proper ending."

"General Arthur Cromwell was assassinated yesterday morning at Washington, wasn't he?" Athrun asked. As if it were an impossible task, the bridge was placed under heavier tension and suspense.

"My report focused on that," Athrun explained, "Unfortunately, my division thought it was bullshit; General Cromwell was quite prominent and popular at the time, and no one thought he would be a target for assassination."

"But he just was," Aiden nodded, "Rumored to be assassinated by a collapsing Blue Cosmos."

"Yeah," Athrun nodded, "I wasn't very adamant on the Blue Cosmos part, but somehow, I knew that Cromwell would be silenced sooner or later. And there's only one possibility that can come out of this, unless drastic measures are taken."

"And what's that?" Hitomi asked, a nervous edge in her voice.

Athrun answered her question quite simply. "A full-scale war between PLANT and Earth. Again."

* * *

"A compliment of M1 Astrays will be joining the Ace-Ops soon, sir," a bridge officer reported to Admiral Crawford over the COM channel, Crawford seated in his quarters devoid of Athrun Zala. Crawford found Athrun's disappearance intriguing, but he was hardly surprised, just slightly disappointed. It meant Athrun didn't quite trust Crawford, if he was to choose escape over Crawford's protection. 

"I understand," Crawford nodded, sipping at a bottle of water through a straw, "So everything is going as planned so far?"

"So far," the bridge officer agreed, "We've already entered the debris field of Junius Seven; we'll be done with the docking procedures shortly. The _Kalima_ is currently maintaining position seventy kilometers outside the debris field."

"Very good," Crawford nodded, "I convey my gratitude."

"You're welcome, sir," the bridge officer replied, and the link closed between them. Crawford stretched slightly, sighed in comfort as he felt more awake. He pressed a button on his computer; a communications software came up, and he directed an encrypted link at PLANT. It was a communications link to a cellphone at PLANT. He waited three rings before he received an answer.

"This is Julius Vibrassa," a smooth male voice replied, "Admiral Crawford, right?"

Crawford smiled. "I wasn't aware you were a soothsayer, Julius."

Julius voice betrayed no humor. "My cell phone can identify the phone number of almost any caller," Julius explained, "You are on a very short list of people who can encrypt the communiques so extensively. I could guess who it was."

"I feel honored," Crawford laughed.

Julius chose not to reply to that joke. "You called me," he stated flatly.

"Yes, I did," Crawford nodded, getting serious, "The events at Aprilius One?"

"Earth has declared war on PLANT," Julius replied, "Aprilius One does not know why they have declared war yet. But the military has been alerted to condition yellow. Although war is not public knowledge yet, the civilians do know there's something going on."

"Would you carry out my orders if I told you to make it general knowledge?" Crawford asked, "Spread information across news agencies?"

Julius paused for just the briefest of moments. "I would require proof," Julius finally said, "And Senator Leland has advised me against this. Chairwoman Canaver is taking her own measures."

"I could provide proof," Crawford ventured.

"It would not be a good idea," Julius finally said, "You know I hardly voice any objections to anyone, but I have to advise against it. The news could cause for civil disturbance, which may lead to a ZAFT spearhead against Earth, instead of an Earth spearhead against ZAFT. That would change the plans drastically; the path to Earth would be blocked."

"You aptitude is always appreciated," Crawford smiled, "Yes, then, we won't do anything too drastic."

Julius gave a short grunt of disapproval. Crawford had the feeling that Julius seemed to have some sort of grudge on him, as if Julius respected Crawford, but not necessarily liked him. He always seemed somewhat cold.

There was a pause over the line, before Julius asked, "Is there anything else?"

"Yes," Crawford nodded as he leaned back on his chair, "The Ace-Ops took something precious from me, something named Athrun Zala. Although I've already drained him of his usefulness, I do have a promise to keep. Please be kind enough to ask them to return him to me."

* * *

As Athrun stepped into Aiden's office, he was greeted by something of a shoutmatch over Aiden's communications suite, something which shocked Athrun, considering that Aiden had asked Athrun to come to his quarters, and that Aiden didn't seem to be the type that argued. 

"Your orders from the Defense Committee was clear!" a face on the holographic display shouted angrily, "How am I supposed to explain this when I'm asked why my son was commanding a ship acting in clear defiance against the Committee?"

_This man has a son on this ship_, Athrun thought. The insignia on the man's chest showed he was a general.

"You will explain exactly what is happening," Aiden snapped, "This ship, part of the Peace Project, was condoning an action to prevent war between PLANT and Earth."

"Great actions condoned," the man muttered, "Washington just declared war on Aprilius One."

"We're trying to reverse the effect," Aiden said.

"The Peace Project has no political power!" the man yelled, "There's no point for you in staying in the Peace Project! Damn that Hitomi Varyvae; get back here to PLANT where we need you, Aiden!"

"We're the only organization of peace recognized by Earth, General," Aiden said coldly, "We are basically the last resort. Aiden, out. Communication error." He slammed his hand on a button that cut the transmission; the image of the general disappeared. Aiden took a deep breath to calm himself, exhaled. He closed his eyes in frustration.

Athrun had heard enough. From the tones and words used in the conversation, Aiden had made it imminently clear that the general was indeed Aiden's father. A familiar name came up, General Matthew Renguard, head of the 23rd Corps, a man of great reputation. At first, he hadn't known Aiden was his son, but now he was sure.

First Lieutenant Aiden Renguard was the son of General Matthew Renguard, and they didn't seem to get on too well. A fact that bothered Athrun because he didn't get along well with his father either during Patrick Zala's last days. "Didn't get along well" seemed like an understatement; Patrick practically shot Athrun's shoulder.

"Looks like I heard something I wasn't supposed to hear," Athrun said just after Aiden closed the link.

"Hardly," Aiden shrugged, obviously indifferent, "Everyone knows I don't get along well with my old man."

Athrun suppressed a grimace; he certainly remembered the last moments he had spent with his father as the both of them quarreled over the justifications of the war a year ago. The end result was his father fired a pistol at Athrun's shoulder before sending him for interrogation to find Justice's whereabouts.

"Ideologies?" Athrun asked, trying to sound like he wasn't disturbed. It didn't come out too well, but Aiden didn't seem to notice, or, at least, pretended not to notice. Athrun had a feeling Aiden knew a lot more than he let on.

"Kind of," Aiden said as he motioned for Athrun to sit down, "Funny. Derlude, that is, one of the members of the Peace Project, used to complain that I never put chairs here. Miracle that I remember now."

"Yeah, I met him," Athrun nodded. He sat down on the chair across from Aiden.

"Uh-huh," Aiden nodded as he waved his hand over a panel, and the holographic monitor on his office desk projected the image of a star chart of ZAFT, replacing the earlier image of his father's angry face, "Either way, my dad isn't too happy with my rejecting offers of a promotion to captain."

Athrun was surprised, and he looked it. "It seems strange to me," Athrun admitted.

"Quite simply," Aiden explained, "being promoted to captain would mean a heavier workload for me. Doesn't really matter; they may call me first lieutenant, but I have all the privileges of a lieutenant commander or a lieutenant general. But I want to concentrate on the Peace Project for now, so I'm spending all my time on it. I don't have the time for the duties of a captain. My dad's not happy with the choice I made, though. He's saying that someone of my caliber could've already been promoted to lieutenant general had I accepted the first offer of promotion that was given to me."

"Do you think so?" Athrun asked.

"Think what?" Aiden asked, looking at Athrun squarely in the eyes.

"That you'd be lieutenant general at the moment if you had accepted the promotion."

Aiden shrugged. "My old man brought up dozens of cadets to officer rank. I'd be surprised if he was wrong."

"Then I'd see why your father is displeased," Athrun admitted.

Aiden gave a little laugh. "That's not really the focus of his dissatisfaction," Aiden said, "He just doesn't like me being around the Peace Project. His expressing of rank and promotion is just to mask that he doesn't like the Peace Project, which is staying my rank. For one thing, he never liked Lacus Clyne, and he often says that Hitomi is the reincarnate of Clyne. And he's probably horrified of the idea that a subordinate officer is trying to pull a move on me."

"The last time I checked," Athrun crossed his arms, "Varyvae was a lieutenant commander."

"In my dad's eyes, it doesn't work that simply. Hitomi hadn't worked up the ranks in battle, but had worked for intelligence branches. I technically could be a lieutenant general right now. And she doesn't come from a prestigious military family like I do. It's not that my dad doesn't oppose me being wed to the daughter of a senator or something, but he definitely doesn't want me to be wed to..." Aiden paused, groped for the right words, then said slyly, "...as my dad puts it, a 'second-rate soldier'. I'm not particularly proud of the fact, but people like me tend to get promoted faster."

"Your dad sees it as a badge of honor?" Athrun looked incredulous.

"Like I said," Aiden shrugged, "I never liked my dad much. I don't see anything wrong with Hitomi. She's a kind, hard-working person who had managed to make her way up the ranks. The only real fault with her I can see is that she is way too shy and introvert. In a sense, I joined the Peace Project as the chief director and, in a sense, Hitomi's guardian. There were several people who were hoping that someone protect Hitomi personally."

"I suppose some in Aprilius One asked for that?" Athrun ventured.

"I guess you can say that," Aiden nodded, "Hitomi was the one that suggested the Peace Project, but she was not one with enough influence or brashness to carry the task out. Senator Francis Leland asked me to join the Peace Project and help her handle some military affairs. I hate to sound like a hypocrite, but the 'peace' that the Peace Project upholds is the result of using weapons and blackmailing others. But it's like what Derlude said before. A dream without strength is nothing but blind hope. Power without an ideal is merely violence."

"Sounds like a moral," Athrun smiled.

"It is," Aiden chuckled, "Tell you the truth, you know where the name 'Ace-Ops' comes from?"

Athrun shook his head.

"I had wanted to name the team of aces after my favorite childhood storyteller, Aesop," Aiden explained.

"The ancient Greek storyteller?" Athrun asked.

"Yeah, that's the one. But Derlude thought it was an awful name; I expected that. We kind of debated around for a while, and came to a compromise. The team was pronounced 'Aesop', but on papers and all, it would read 'Ace-Ops'."

"Impressive compromise," Athrun admitted.

"I agree," Aiden nodded, "At any rate, I am officially second-in-command of the Peace Project, and essentially commander of the Ace-Ops, but off the records, I have to take care of Hitomi."

"So basically speaking," Athrun smiled as he closed his eyes, placed his hands together, "You're his knight in shining armor."

Aiden laughed, although it was kind of dry, and Athrun almost thought Aiden felt awkward. "Well, I guess you can put it that way. I'm not his boyfriend or anything, but I guess our relationship has its own intimacies."

There was a moment's pause, where they realized both of them ran out of things to say. Several seconds passed, before Aiden spoke up.

"The Orb pilots should be docking up now," Aiden nodded, "We'd better go take a look."

They got up, and that was when the explosions shook the ship.


End file.
